Shinshū Maru was a spectacular amphibious asset for her period, but she was only one ship. The invasion of Malaya provides the scale check: roughly three divisions and about sixty thousand men cannot appear from a landing ship alone. Japan would need to assemble troops, equipment, landing craft, and merchant transports while withdrawing forces from other commitments. Britain and its partners would also need time to move reinforcements from India, Australia, Britain, and perhaps North Africa. The comparison turns a striking piece of hardware into the larger force-generation and shipping problem that determines whether an invasion can occur.
Notable Point · 2:15:17-2:16:50
One amphibious ship cannot move 60,000 troops
Shinshu Maru was an advanced amphibious asset, but a Malaya-scale invasion still required three divisions, merchant shipping, equipment, and time.