Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI)
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) is the lead producer of Japanese defense equipment and is Japan's only producer of fixed-wing aircraft. As the pioneer of Japan's aerospace fields, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) conducted research and development utilizing the state-of-the-art technology, and can boast of ample achievements both inside and outside of this country. Ever since the development of the YS-11, Japan's civil aircraft, the aircraft helicopter department has accumulated various achievements in the development production for the Japan Defense Agency and for civil aircraft, and recently, in September 2000, MHI delivered to the Japan Defense Agency the first model of the F-2 support fighter, a joint project of Japan and the U.S., which is core to Japan's self-defense.
The popular notion of keiretsu today centers upon a half-dozen groups made up of Japan's corporate giants, most of whom have pedigrees reaching back to the Meiji era of the late 19th century. Commonly dubbed the "big-6" industrial groups (roku-dai kigyo or kigyo shudari), these keiretsu bring together the major "city" banks, large manufacturing concerns, general trading companies (sogo shosha), and trust banks and insurance companies. In large part, the "big-6" are reconfigurations of the member firms of the pre-war oligopolistic family concerns known as zaibatsu. However, today's groups not only lack their predecessors' close family control, exercised through holding companies, but their members appear to engage in more independent action and less internalized trade.315 Because these groups are each organized around a large bank, and because the firms are linked more by finances than products, they are also often known as financial keiretsu (kinyu keiretsu). The giant, diversified general trading companies, of which one is typically associated with each of the six groups, have also taken on some of the coordinating and "flagship" roles performed in the pre-war years by the zaibatsu holding companies. However, the trading companies also play prominent roles in both international trade and the domestic distribution of goods in their own right.
The six inter-market keiretsu can be further subdivided. First, there are three groups which are descendants of three of the major zaibatsu of the prewar era (the Mitsubishi, Mitsui, and Sumitomo houses), (see figure 6). The other three inter-market groups formed around major commercial banks (Fuyo, Sanwa Bank, Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank). The major qualitative difference between the two types is a somewhat lesser degree of affinity or cohesiveness among firms of the latter type, apparent in a lower incidence of intra-group transactions and shareholding.
An extraordinary man, a retainer of Tosa clan, named Iwasaki Yataro, established a small steamship company at Osaka. It was called The Mitsubishi Shokai (The Three Caltrops Trading Co.). With two or three steamers this company opened a regular service between the province of Tosa and the city of Osaka, only one hundred miles apart from each other. The first Formosan expedition was undertaken in 1874. This expedition made a considenable contribution to the development of Japanese navigation. The time being not far from the Restoration there was but a scanty supply of all kinds of war materials.
The Government accordingly bought from other countries thirteen steamers for use as transports, aggregating about 13,000 tons. Even then the officers on board these steamers were all foreigners. Japanese were looked upon as without sufficient training and experience for the navigation of the stormy sea of South China. Soon after the peace negotiations between our Ambassador at Peking, Mr., afterward Marquis, Okubo and the Peking Court reached a favorable conclusion, and the forces were withdrawn. The thirteen newly bought steamers were no longer of direct service to the Government. The newly bought steamers were lent to this company, which was thus able to open a regular line between Yokohama, Kobe, and Shanghai.
This new line was of course in direct competition with the foreign lines then in operation between the same ports, as well as with other native companies. With the enlargement of the Mitsubishi our navigation began to thrive; but the more the number of steamers increased the sharper became the competition. Moreover, the Pacific Mail Steamship Co., whose steamers were running regularly between Yokohama and Shanghai, began to assume an aggressive attitude toward Japanese companies, especially toward the Mitsubishi.
By 1918 Mitsubishi was one of the largest private concerns in Japan and had a capital of about $100,000,000. The company is engaged in many important lines of industry and commerce, the principal ones being mining and metallurgy, shipbuilding, docking, engineering, banking, warehousing, paper manufacturing, iron production, management of estates, oil refining, importing and exporting, etc. It was the proprietor of several mines, shipyards and workshops, and owned large landed properties in Tokio and in many other parts of the country. Until 1917, all the company branches were organized as departments of Mitsubishi Goshi Kaisha. Recently, however, most of these departments (excepting the banking and estate departments) separated from the latter and each has become an independent company. The original President of Mitsubishi Goshi Kaisha controls and supervises this system of companies.
The banking department had several branches in Japan, one in Shanghai and one in London. It is one of the largest private banking houses in Japan, having a long list of foreign clients, enjoying the confidence of the public and wielding a considerable influence in the money market of the country. The business transacted by the department covers nearly all branches of general banking as well as foreign exchange.
The mining company ranked among the largest Japanese mine owners. It included about thirty coal mines, the annual output of which amounts to 5,000,000 tons, and as many metal mines (annual production of copper 67,500,000 pounds). The coal from the collieries of the company was especially in demand and commanded a large sale in the market of Japan through the Trading Company. It was moreover exported in large quantities to Chinese and Korean ports, Hongkong, Manila, Singapore, etc., also to the Pacific Coast of North America and is supplying bunker coal through many coaling depots of the Mitsubishi Trading Company.
The importing and exporting company (Sheji Kaisha) had many branches in the chief cities in Japan and China, in Vladivostok, Singapore and Calcutta, besides being represented by the branches of the Mitsubishi Goshi Kaisha in London, New York, Genoa and Paris. This company had great advantages in buying and selling various kinds of goods at exceptionally low prices.
Following the end of World War II, a law aimed at dissolving "zaibatsu" or Nagasaki Shipyard & Machinery Works dismantling the over concentration of economic power was in effect. Thus, in 1950, MHI was divided into three entities: West Japan Heavy-Industries, Ltd., Central Japan Heavy-Industries, Ltd. and East Japan Heavy-Industries, Ltd. It was later consolidated in 1964 and reborn as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
In 1970, MHI's automobile department became independent and Mitsubishi Motors Corporation began manufacturing and marketing automobiles. Integrating each company's management and technical expertise and enhancing competitiveness in domestic and international markets, MHI has come a long way.
Military industries of Japan By Norimoto Masúda, Ushisaburo Kobayashi
Mitsubishi Shipbuilding
Nagasaki Shipyard & Machinery Works was established in 1857 as Japan's first warship repair facility, under the name, Nagasaki Yotetsusho Foundry. And that was the beginning of the now famous Mitsubishi Dockyard and Iron Works - the largest shipbuilding yard in Nippon. The Akunoura Engine Works were originally founded by the Shogun's Government in 1857, for repairing small war vessels owned by the Shogun. At the request of the Tokugawa Shogunate Government, a group of Dutch engineers with necessary materials and machine tools arrived at Nagasaki and started on the construction of the foundry, then called Nagasaki Yotetsusho. The foundry was redesigned as ironworks in 1860 and renamed "Nagasaki Seitetsusho." The ironworks was completed in 1861.
The Nagasaki Seitetsusho, the ironworks, was taken over in 1868 by the Meiji Government at the time of the Restoration and put under the control of Nagasaki prefectural judiciary. A large dry dock, now No. 1 Dock, was constructed in 1879 (This dock was demolished in 1963 for the construction of new dry docks.) The patent slip at Kosuge was purchased, and the business became gradually established. The principal work done during the Government occupation was the building of a wooden steamer, the Kosuge Mara.
In 1884, Yataro Iwasaki, the founder of Mitsubishi, took a lease of Government-owned Nagasaki Shipyard. He named it Nagasaki Shipyard & Machinery Works, and started the shipbuilding business on a full scale with only 800 men. In 1888 the Mitsubishi Company took the shop off the hands of the government and paid for it a fanciful price of several hundred thousand yen. The government needed money. The shipbuilding trade being quite insignificant at that time, the works made very slow progress, and an iron steamer of only about 200 tons was the principal vessel built in the three years after the purchase. This, however, was followed shortly afterward by three steel steamers each of 700 gross tons, and also in 1895 by a steel steamer of 1,530 gross tons, the Suma Maru, the largest steel merchant ship built in Japan at that time.
In 1895 the Nippon Yusen Kaisha wanted six steamers of 6,000 tons each for its European line which was then proposed. The Mitsubishi Company went after the business; it was a daring thing to do; the Mitsubishi Dockyard had built a few steamers of 700 tons for the Osaka Commercial Steamship Company before; but that was about its record. The bidding for the contract to build the 6,ooo-ton steamers was so daring that it bordered dangerously on the comical, and the giving of the contract to such a concern called for a courage that was hardly to be dreamed of among the capitalists of the conservative West.
Happily for the fate of the shipbuilding enterprises in Nippon and for the Mitsubishi people, there were two men on the board of directors of the great steamship company who were very much greater than mere business men. One of them was not only the most powerful stockholder of the steamship company, but also the ablest financier in the Far East to-day- Baron Shibusawa. The contract to build two out of the six ships was given to the Mitsubishi people. They did not make much money at this job. They took their profit in coin of different complexion. Through this initial and expensive work the engineers., draughtsmen, and workmen in the employ of the Mitsubishi Dockyard received an invaluable training, and indeed it was not long before they began coining a deal of good money out of their experience. Somewhat later the industry began to take on great activity, and in 1898 a 6 000-ton steel steamer, the Hitachi Maru was turned out. From 1898 to 1904 the Mitsubishi, the Kawasaki Shipbuilding Company, the Osaka Iron Works and a few others have built thirty steamers above 1,000 tons.
The Mitsu Bishi Dockyard and Engine Works at Nagasaki, the largest in 1907 and oldest shipbuilding establishment in Japan, consisted at that time of the engine works at Akuno'ura, the shipyard and dry docks at Tategami, and the patent slip at Kosuge. By 1907 the works had been very much improved by enormous extensions, most of the old shops have been rebuilt, many new buildings erected, and a large number of modern machines added. It has now a water frontage of about 8 000 ft., and the premises cover nearly 80 acres. There are three dry docks, measuring, respectively, 350, 510 and 714 ft. in length on the keel blocks, and a patent slip 750 ft. long on the rail, and also eight building berths ranging from 170 to 700 ft. Ships having a gross tonnage of more than 20 000 tons can be constructed by these works in one year.
The works was transferred to the control of Mitsubishi Shipbuilding & Engineering Company, Ltd. in 1917. By 1918 the shipbuilding and engineering company owned the Nagasaki, Kobe and Hikoshima dockyards and was engaged in building merchant steamers and battleships, in docking, and in the manufacture of engines, boilers, electrical machinery, steam turbines, etc. It was the largest undertaking of its kind in the East. Shipowners, as well as the general public, fully acknowledged the excellence of their workmanship and thorough attention to details, in which respect the company catered to the requirements of its patrons. The Toyo Kisen Kaisha steamships, "Tenyo Maru" and "Shinyo Maru", triumphs of Japanese naval architecture, furnish ample evidence of this.
This shipbuilding business was later turned into Mitsubishi Shipbuilding Co., Ltd., and was again launched as Mitsubishi Heavy-Industries, Ltd. in 1934, establishing its position as the largest private firm in Japan, manufacturing ships, heavy machinery, airplanes, and railroad cars. The foundry of the works was separated in 1937 and renamed Nagasaki Steel Works of Mitsubishi Steel Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
In 1950 Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. divided into three companies. Kobe Works newly started as Central Japan Heavy Industries,Ltd. In 1952 the Company was renamed Shin Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. In 1960 the Akashi branch plant was opened to start manufacturing construction machinery. In 1962 the Takasago branch plant started exclusively for turbines. And in 1964 the current Mitsubishi Heavy Industries started by integrating then-existing three Mitsubishi-affiliated heavy industries. The three independent companies of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, decentralized in 1950, were merged again into one company under the name of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd., and the Nagasaki works was renamed the Nagasaki Shipyard & Engine Works.
Nagasaki Shipyard & Machinery Works has built a number of excellent passenger ships, oil tankers, LNG carriers, LPG carriers, cargo ships, bulk carriers, escort ships, etc. for the seafaring all over the world. Capitalizing on our wealth of shipbuilding technology and experiences accumulated for more than a century, engineering efforts are now being focused on the construction of high-technology / high-quality, or high-value-added ships, fuel-efficient ships, super-modern ships, and luxury cruise passenger ships, the last being increasingly in heavy demand. Particular emphasis is also placed on the development of high-speed product carriers.
When Mitsubishi produced its first large cruise ship, it lost 100 percent of the contract price (i.e., its cost was twice what it was paid). Some loss was expected because the company was buying into the market. This risk eventually paid off when Princess Cruise Lines offered Mitsubishi contracts for two large ships. Small shipbuilders do not have the financial depth to sustain such losses.
The Nagasaki Shipyard is made up of two plants. The Main Plant, which began as a foundry in 1855 and is one of the oldest shipbuilding facilities in Japan, and the Koyagi Plant, which is one of the newest and most modern. The two plants have the capability to build ships ranging from small escort vessels for the Japanese Navy to tankers and bulk carriers of 1,000,000 dwt. In addition to these, they also build steel structures, bridges, oil drilling rig jackets and other marine structures.
The development of quality work groups started in the early 1970s at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., Nagasaki Shipyard. The application of Performance Maintenance (PM) leadership theories and the principles of group dynamics were used in the shipyard to address the critical safety problems. The Shipbuilding Departments of the company have strongly promoted the improvement of welding techniques, especially the automation of welding processes. Mitsubishi is proud of the fact that by the early 1980s the 5 shipyards owned by the company had the highest percentage of automated welding in the whole Japanese shipbuilding industry.
The Kobe Shipyard & Machinery Works Shipbuilding Division specializes in the construction of high-value-added ships, induding container ships, passenger ships, and submarines. The works also boasts state-of-the-art technologies for ship repair and conversion.
The Shimonoseki Shipyard & Machinery Works Shipbuilding Division specializes in building special-purpose ships such as cable laying and ocean research ships, luxury ferry boats, and high-speed boats. These ships are to be found plying the seas of the world.
The Yokohama Machinery Works, located in the center of Yokohama city, and having good sea and land access within 2 hours from the ports in Tokyo bay, the Yokohama Machinery Works undertakes variety of work related to the repair, conversion, and periodical and intermediate surveys of LNG carriers, LPG carriers, work vessels, ocean structures. Meeting the advanced technology required to perform these tasks, the dockyard is constantly ranked at the top of the ship repair industry.
The Shipbuilding Division has delivered LNG carriers (Moss type / Membrane type), LPG carriers and VLCCs (Very Large Crude oil Carriers) that support the transportation of energy resources and a new generation Container carriers that support the global logistics, utilizing our advanced shipbuilding expertise acquired through the production of various large-sized ships that spans more than a century. Furthermore, Mitsubishi has built such luxurious cruise ships, high speed passenger ferries and a pure car carriers.
Mitsubishi's shipbuilding complex in Nagasaki features the world's longest shipyard dock (1 km in length). It is the only facility in Japan that builds large-sized passenger cruise ships, including two completed in 2004 (the 116,000 ton "Diamond Princess" and "Sapphire Princess"). Mitsubishi Heavy Industry also produces various kinds of power generating equipment, and the Nagasaki facility is Japan's only maker of wind turbine generators.
In Japan, all the companies involved in naval shipbuilding have multiple yards, although they take different approaches to isolatingtheir naval work. Mitsubishi begins the construction of its naval shipsin a small dedicated yard and does so in relatively small blocks that are pre-outfitted only with piping. Mitsubishi constructs hulls for warships in a small, traditional shipyard with end launching ways. After traditional, inclined launch, the hulls are towed about 8-15 miles to the main Nagasaki shipyard, where they are completed. This process serves to keep Mitsubishi's warship building as separate as it can be from its other shipbuilding activities.
Korean naval ships are built by Hyundai and Daewoo. Both companies keep the complete operations separate, even though Dae-woo's naval shipyard is inside its commercial yard. The naval component in each shipyard has its own management, design, and production departments with minimum crossover of employees from one to the other. http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Aerospace/Mitsubishi/Aero58.htm">Mitsubishi by T.A. Heppenheimer
MHI is presently Japan's sole producer of fixed- wing fighter aircraft. At the end of World War I, the return of peace brought a sharp decline in orders for military equipment among the victorious powers. Japan was one of them, having been an ally of Great Britain. However, rather than turning toward peace, the Japanese government launched a new buildup, in preparation for future wars. In 1920 alone, the Japanese army and navy placed orders for nearly 1,400 warplanes. During the next two decades, and during World War II, the firm of Mitsubishi stood in the forefront of Japanese military aviation.
Mitsubishi was a "zaibatsu," which translates as "wealthy clique." It was a family-owned industrial combine that owned banks, which provided it with funds. Mitsubishi was the second largest zaibatsu, standing alongside the Mitsui, Sumitomo, and Yasuda zaibatsu. Founded in 1873 by the entrepreneur Iwasaki Yataro, it received strong government support from the outset. It started with trading and merchant shipping, then expanding into mining, shipbuilding, real estate, iron and steel, insurance, oil refining, and chemicals.
The group entered aviation during World War I, building French aircraft engines under license and soon producing trainer aircraft that were also French. A design group headed by Britain's Herbert Smith, who had been a chief engineer at Sopwith Aviation Company, crafted new warplanes that became standard equipment with the Japanese navy. Mitsubishi also learned lessons from Germany, first by working with the aircraft designer Alexander Baumann and then through a collaboration with the German planebuilding firm of Junkers.
Preparations for war went forward rapidly during the 1920s, as the Navy built its first aircraft carriers. These included the 800-foot (244-meter) Akagi and Kaga, which were among the world's largest. In 1930, the naval leader Isoroku Yamamoto torpedoed international plans to limit construction of warships, thereby giving Japan free rein to continue its buildup. By then, the United States had powerful carriers of its own, and Yamamoto saw them as a threat. He demanded construction of long-range bombers that could strike those Yankee warships. Mitsubishi responded with a twin-engine aircraft that later became known as the Nell.
Japan went to war in 1931, initially against China. In August 1937, with the war escalating, a force of 38 Nells flew from Japan and struck Chinese targets 1,250 miles (2,012 kilometers) away. This was astonishing, for its range was more than double that of any other bomber then flying. Mitsubishi achieved this performance by making the plane light in weight by removing guns and armor. Indeed, pilots were told that a desire for armor was a sign of cowardice.
Two years later, the company introduced what became Japan's standard twin-engine bomber: the Betty. Mitsubishi provided the engines as well. The Betty could fly well over 3,000 miles (4,828 kilometers) without refueling, which again it achieved by eliminating armor and fire-resistant fuel tanks to save weight. The firm went on to build nearly 2,500 of them.
During 1939, Mitsubishi also launched Japan's most famous and deadliest wartime fighter: the Zero. Again, light weight was its strong suit. An early opponent, the Curtiss P-40, weighed 1,000 pounds (454 kilograms) more when empty than the Zero did when loaded. This gave the Zero great maneuverability. It carried two machine guns and two cannons that fired 20-millimeter shells. More than 10,000 were built, while the Allies had no aircraft that could match it until 1943.
These warplanes played vital roles in a sweeping Japanese offensive that got under way in December 1941. On December 7, a fleet of six aircraft carriers struck Pearl Harbor, a major U.S. naval base. The attack delivered a heavy blow against the Pacific Fleet and led the next day to a declaration of war against Japan.
Hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor, a land-based force of Mitsubishi Nells and Bettys, escorted by Zeroes, struck U.S. airfields in the Philippines. The Zeroes did particular damage, firing at parked aircraft with their guns. The Japanese destroyed more than 100 U.S. warplanes. The American forces never recovered, as Japan invaded the main island of Luzon. The defeat that followed was one of the most bitter in American history.
Then came the turn of the British. They held a vital naval base at Singapore and sought to reinforce it by sending the battleship Prince of Wales and the battle cruiser Repulse. A large force of Nells and Bettys caught them in the open and bombed them. Japanese torpedo planes finished them off, with 14 torpedoes striking the Repulse and seven hitting the Wales.
General Sir Alan Brooke, chief of Britain's General Staff, wrote that loss of those warships meant that "from Africa eastward to America through the Indian Ocean and the Pacific, we have lost control of the sea." Singapore was Britain's key position in the Far East, but the sinking of those ships left its defenders without hope. They outnumbered the attacking Japanese, 70,000 to 35,000, but two months later this British force surrendered.
In the wake of these triumphs, Japan's empire included Southeast Asia and much of China, while extending southward toward Australia and eastward far into the Pacific. As the war continued, Mitsubishi became that nation's leading builder of aircraft engines. It ranked number two in number of aircraft produced, with the firm of Nakajima in first place, but Mitsubishi held particular strength in production of bombers.
Despite the breadth of its conquests, Japan's position was vulnerable, with its vast empire being open to counterattack. Yamamoto himself had foreseen this. Prior to the war he stated, "If I am told to fight regardless of the consequences, I shall run wild for the first six months or a year, but I have utterly no confidence for the second and third years of the fighting." He had seen what he described as "the automobile factories in Detroit and the oil fields in Texas," and he was well aware that Japan lacked such industrial strength. He knew that in a long war, the United States would mobilize this strength to build powerful weapons in numbers that Japan could not match.
Following the surrender of Japan, in 1945, American authorities broke up the zaibatsu, including Mitsubishi. These industrial combines later reorganized as corporations set up in the American style, without the family control and ownership of the prewar decades. Portions of Mitsubishi remained active in building power plants and heavy machinery, in chemicals, and in banking and overseas trade. The company also expanded into new areas, winning a strong position in electronics and in automobiles and light trucks.
However, one important industry was missing. Japan's defeat brought a shutdown in its production of aircraft. Mitsubishi went on to assemble American jet fighters, building them under license, and later supplied sections of airframe for the Boeing 767 and 777 and McDonnell Douglas MD-11 airliners. However, neither Mitsubishi nor any other Japanese company has reestablished an independent position in military aviation.
Mitsubishi Type 0 Zero
During the early 1940s, the skies of the Pacific were dominated by the propelled engines of the single-seat Mitsubishi Type 0 Carrier Fighters. Also known as the Zero, the Zero fighter carried Japan through several battles during World War II. The Zero's capabilities and proven power during air-to-air combat inspired awe in its enemy combatants as it was able to outmanever all other land-based aircraft of the 1940s.
In May of 1937, the Imperial Japanese Naval Air Service issued out specifications for a new updated fighter aircraft to Nakajima and Mitsubishi. IJNAS called for a fighter that could reach speeds up to 310 miles per hour at 13,120 feet and climb to 9,840 feet in 3 minutes and 30 seconds while being armed with two 20 mm cannons, two 7.7 mm machine guns and two 60-pound bombs. They also wanted it equipped with a full radio and a direction finder. With the technology available at the time, many people wondered how the specifications could be met.
Both companies began developing plans and prototypes, but when Nakajima felt the specifications were impossible to meet, they pulled their plans from the competition. Jiro Horikoshi, Mitsubishi's chief designer, believed he could create what IJNAS asked for. Horikoshi believed he could meet all IJNAS' requirements if he could find a way to make the aircraft lighter. Horikoshi found his solution. Protective armor and self-sealing fuel tanks were sacrificed to make the plane lighter and a lightweight aluminum alloy named "Extra- Super Duraluminum" was used to construct the body. Horikoshi was able to meet, and in some areas surpass, what IJNAS asked for.
Once prototypes were constructed, tested and improved on, the IJNAS began full production and delivery in December 1940. General Claire Chennault, who was working with the Chinese Nationalists to fight the Japanese in 1940, sent reports to the United States warning about the Zero's air power two years before it took to the skies. His reports were misfiled and forgotten. As a result, the U.S. Grumman F-4F Wildcats were completely shocked and overwhelmed by the Zero's superior speed and power as they tried to defend against the attacks on Pearl Harbor.
The Zero remained the superior fighter in the air during the early years of World War II. It wasn't until the development of the Grumman F-6F Hellcat and the Battle of Midway that the Zero's monopoly over the Pacific Ocean skies started to decline. Today, the shrapnel-scarred Zero Hangar across the street from the Provost Marshal's Office at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni remains a reminder of the presence the Zero had during the last world war. Iwakuni was home to 150 Zero fighter planes toward the end of the war. A day before the war ended, the hangar sustained damaged after a bombing. The hangar, which is the only World War II-era hangar remaining today, sits as a concrete relic, housing a replica Type Zero Carrier Fighter. The full-scale model aircraft remains housed there as a symbol of a time when the Zero once ruled the Pacific skies.
Both the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy also had outstanding aircraft. The Army's primary fighter of the early war was the Nakajima K.43 Hayabusa (Peregrine Falcon), a light, little aircraft, with a slim, tapered fuselage and a bubble canopy. The Navy's fighter came to symbolize the Japanese air effort, even for the Japanese, themselves. The Mitsubishi Type "0" Carrier Fighter (its official designation) was as much a trend-setting design as was Britain's Spitfire or the American Corsair. As author Norman Franks wrote, the Allied crews found that "the Japanese airmen were.. .far superior to the crude stereotypes so disparaged by the popular press and cartoonists. And in a Zero they were highly dangerous." The hallmark of Japanese fighters had always been superb maneuverability. Early biplanes-which had been developed from British and French designs-set the pace. By the mid-1930s, the Army and Navy had two world-class fighters, the Nakajima Ki.27 and the Mitsubishi A5M series, respectively, both low-wing, fixed-gear aircraft. The Ki.27 did have a modern enclosed cockpit, while the A5M's cockpit was open (except for one variant that experimented with a canopy which was soon discarded in service.) A major and fatal disadvantage of most Japanese fighters was their light armament- usually a pair of .30-caliber machine guns - and lack of armor, as well as their great flammability, When the Type "0" first flew in 1939, most Japanese pilots were enthusiastic about the new fighter. It was fast, had retractable landing gear and an enclosed cockpit, and carried two 20rnrn cannon besides the two machine guns, Initial operational evaluation in China in 1940 confirmed the aircraft's potential. By the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the A6M2 was the Imperial Navy's standard carrier fighter, and rapidly replaced the older ASMs still in service. As the A6M2 proved successful in combat, it acquired its wartime nickname, "Zero," although the Japanese rarely referred to it as such. The evocative name came from the custom of designating aircraft in reference to the Japanese calendar. Thus, since 1940 corresponded to the year 2600 in Japan, the fighter was the Type "00" fighter, which was shortened to "0." The western press picked up the designation and the name "Zero" was born. The Zero's incredible maneuverability came at some expense from its top speed. In an effort to increase the speed, the designers clipped the folding wingtips from the carrier-based A6M2 and evolved the land-based A6M3, Model 32. The pilots were not impressed with the speed increase and the production run was short, the A6M3 reverting back to its span as the Model 22. The type was originally called "Hap," after Gen Henry "Hap" Arnold, Chief of the Army Air Force. Arnold was so angry at the dubious honor that the name was quickly changed to Hamp. The fighter received another name in 1943 which was almost as popular, especially among the American flight crews. A system of first names referred to various enemy aircraft, in much the same way that the postwar NATO system referred to Soviet and Chinese aircraft. The Zero was tagged "Zeke," and the names were used interchangeably by everyone, from flight crews to intelligence officers. (Other examples of the system included "Claude" [ASM], "Betty" [Mitsubishi G4M bomber], and "Oscar" [Ki.43].) US Navy and Marine Corps Wildcats were sometimes initially hard-pressed to defend their ships and fields against the large forces of Betty bombers and their Zero escorts, which had ranges of 800 miles or more through the use of drop tanks. The Brewster Buffalo had little to show for its few encounters with the Japanese, which is difficult to understand given the type's early success during the Russo-Finnish War. The F2A-1, a lighter, earlier model of the -3 which served with the Marines, was the standard Finnish fighter plane. In its short combat career in American service, the Brewster failed miserably. Thus, the only fighter capable of meeting the Japanese on anything approaching equal terms was the F4F, which was fortunate because the Wildcat was really all that was available in those dark days following Pearl Harbor. Retired Brigadier General Robert E. Galer described the Wildcat as "very rugged and very mistreated (at Guadalcanal)." He added: "Full throttle, very few replacement parts, muddy landing strips, battle damage, roughly repaired. We loved them. We did not worry about flight characteristics except when senior officers wanted to make them bombers as well as fighters." The Japanese also operated a unique form of fighter. Other combatants had tried to make seaplanes of existing designs. The U.S. Navy had even hung floats on the Wildcat, which quickly became the "Wildcatfish." The British had done it with the Spitfire. But the resulting combination left much to be desired and sapped the original design of much of its speed and maneuverability. The Japanese, however, seeing the need for a water-based fighter in the expanses of the Pacific, modified the A6M2 Zero, and came up with what was arguably the most successful water-based fighter of the war, the A6M2-N, which was allocated the Allied codename "Rufe." Manufactured by Mitsubishi's competitor, Nakajima, float-Zeros served in such disparate climates as the Aleutians and the Solomons. Although the floats bled off at least 40 mph from the land-based version's top speed, they seemed to have had only a minor effect on its original maneuverability; the Rufe aquired the same respect as its sire. While the F4F and P-40 (along with the luckless P39) held the line in the Pacific, other, newer designs were leaving production lines, and none too soon. The two best newcomers were the Army's Lockheed P-38 Lightning and the Navy's Vought F4U Corsair. The P38 quickly captured the headlines and public interest with its unique twin-boomed, twin-engine layout. It soon developed into a long-range escort, and served in the Pacific as well as Europe. The Corsair was originally intended to fly from aircraft carriers, but its high landing speed, long nose that obliterated the pilot's view forward during the landing approach, and its tendency to bounce, banished the big fighter from American flight decks for a while. The British, however, modified the aircraft, mainly by clipping its wings, and flew it from their small decks. Deprived of its new carrier fighter-having settled on the new Grumman F6F Hellcat as its main carrier fighter-the Navy offered the F4U to the Marines. They took the first squadrons to the Solomons, and after a few disappointing first missions, they made the gullwinged fighter their own, eventually even flying it from the small decks of Navy escort carriers in the later stages of the war. Besides the two main fighters, the Army's Oscar and the Navy's Zeke and its floatplane derivative, the Rufe, the Japanese flew a wide assortment of aircraft, including land-based bombers, such as the Mitsubishi G4M (codenamed Betty) and Ki.21 (Sally). Carrierbased bombers included the Aichi D3A divebomber (the Val) which saw considerable service during the first three years of the war, and its stablemate, the torpedo bomber from Nakajima, the B5N (Kate), one of the most capable torpedo-carriers of the first half of the war. Although early wartime propaganda ridiculed Japanese aircraft and their pilots, returning Allied aviators told different stories, although the details of their experiences were kept classified. Each side's culture provided the basis for their aircraft design philosophies. Eventually, the Japanese were overwhelmed by American technology and numerical superiority. However, for the important first 18 months of the Pacific war, they had the best. But, as was also the case in the European theaters, a series of misfortunes, coincidences, a lack of understanding by leaders, as well as the drain of prolonged combat, finally allowed the Americans and their Allies to overcome the enemy's initial edge. Much has been made of the low performance of American fighters in the earlydays of the Pacific war, but -- ironically -- these aircraft (such as the Curtiss P-40 orGrumman F4F) -- generally were rugged, armored aircraft with self-sealing fuel systems,and thus were highly survivable despite otherwise having unspectacular performance. Armed with four or six .50 caliber machine guns, they had tremendous killing poweragainst more lightly armed and essentially unprotected Japanese fighters and bombers. Japanese fighter and bomber design over the length of the war began more and more to resemble that of the West. By war's end,Japanese firms were producing rugged fighters and bombers featuring increasing amounts of armor, with protected and self-sealing fuel cells, and the like. One can contrast, for example, the Mitsubishi A6M-2 Type 0 ("Zero" or "Zeke") fighter and the Mitsubishi G4M "Betty" bomber of 1942 with the Nakajima Ki-84 Hayate ("Frank") fighter and the Mitsubishi Ki-67 Hiryu ("Peggy") bomber of 1945 Betty - A twin-engined, all-metal construction aircraft with fabric-covered control surfaces built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Company. It was used in various versions as a land-based bomber (G4M), heavy escort fighter (G6M1), bomber crew trainer (G6M1-K), and transport (G6M1-L2). Jack - A single-engine, low-wing, land-based interceptor fighter which featured all-metal construction with fabric-covered control surfaces. It was designed by Mitsubishi as the J2M Raiden (Thunderbolt). Judy - A single-engine, carrier-capable monoplane which featured all metal construction with fabric-covered control surfaces. Designed by Naval engineers at Yokosuka, the D4Y Suisei (Comet), as it was designated by the Japanese, had various versions built at the Naval Air Arsenals in Yokosuka and Hiro, as well as by the Aichi Aircraft Company. Extremely versatile, this aircraft was used as a dive-bomber, reconnaissance plane, land-based night fighter, and kamikaze aircraft. Kate - A single-engine, low-wing, carrier- based torpedo- bomber which featured all-metal construction with fabric covered control surfaces. The Allies designated the B5N produced by Nakajima as the Kate, and the B5M1 produced by Mitsubishi as the Kate 61 (formerly the Mabel). Nate - A single-engine, low-wing, fixed-gear, cantilever monoplane which featured all-metal construction with fabric-covered control surfaces. Designed and built by Nakajima as the Ki-27 for use as a fighter, by the end of the war this plane was being used primarily as a trainer or as a kamikaze attack aircraft. Tojo - A single-engine, low-wing, land-based, interceptor fighter which featured all-metal construction with fabric-covered control surfaces. The aircraft, designated the Ki-44 Shoki (Devil-Queller) by the Japanese, was designed and built by the Nakajima Airplane Company. (It should also be noted that the Allied code name of Tojo which was used for this aircraft was one of several exceptions to the normal naming pattern). Tony - A liquid-cooled, single-engine, low-wing, land-based fighter which featured allmetal construction with fabric-covered control surfaces. Designated as the Ki-61 Hien (Swallow) by the Japanese, it was designed and built by the Kawasaki Aircraft Engineering Company. Val - A single-engine, low-wing, fixed-gear, carrier-based dive-bomber which featured allmetal construction with fabric-covered control surfaces. The aircraft, designated the D3A by the Japanese, was designed by the Aichi Aircraft Company and built by Aichi and the Showa Airplane Company. Zeke - A single-engine, low-wing, carrier-capable fighter which featured all-metal construction with fabric covered control surfaces. The A6M Reisen (Zero Fighter), as it was known to the Japanese, was designed by Mitsubishi, and built by both Mitsubishi and the Nakajima Airplane Company.
The Eurofighter Typhoon consortium has aggressively courted Tokyo. The group promised to give extensive work to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. A few years ago, the notion of Japan buying a front-line combat aircraft from a non-United States supplier would havebeen laughable; but that is no longer the case Fincantieri has two yards devoted primarily to naval vessels (Muggiano and Riva Trigosa) and six to commercial ships. The Monfalcone shipyard (one of the Italcantieri Conglomerate) was "built from scratch" and in the early 1980s was considered to be the most modern shipyard in the world. Japan's ¥1.4 trillion aerospace sector, about half of which is based in Chubu, is led byMitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI). Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, and Fuji Heavy Industries are key partners of U.S. aerospace firms and produce nearly 40 percent of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Approximately a dozen U.S. companies are partnering with Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation to develop the first Japanese jetliner, the 80-120 passenger Mitsubishi Regional Jet or MRJ. The Oppama Shipyard of Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Ltd, designed for buildingsuper large ships, is constructed on reclaimed land at Oppama, Yokosuka,situated at the entrance to Tokyo Bay. Since the first ship completion in September 1972, the Oppama Shipyard has delivered a large number of modernocean going vessels. A unique feature of this shipyard is its dual-entrance building dock, with intermediate caissons, where two huge ships can be built at the same time, and the ships are alternately launched as they are completed. Tsu Shipyard of Nippon-Kokan Kabushiki Kaisha is one of three shipyards of the NKK industrial complex, which includes, in addition to the Shipbuilding Division, a Steelmaking Division and a Heavy Industries Division. The Steelmaking Division is one of the worlds largest. The Tsu Shipyard was started in 1968 to spearhead a new era in shipbuilding, with a facility having a capacity for building ships of 500,000 dwt; one of the largest in the world. The shipyard features CANALOCK - the worlds first dual-end dock system. This revolutionary new system permits the construction of a 500,000 dwt ship together with additional bow or stern sections. It allows ships ranging in capacity from 200,000 to 250,000 dwt to be built in tandem and launched from opposite ends of the dock. Planning of the yard was based on building six of the 250,000 dwt ships per year. In the early 1980s the yard diversified and constructed various smaller ships, product carriers, LPG carriers and offshore structures. Kawasaki Heavy Industries Kobe Dockyard, one of the older shipyards in Japan, was established in 1886. Since that time, it has built many types of small and medium size commercial ships including oil tankers, ore carriers, LPG carriers, bulk carriers, car carriers, RORO ships, container ships, etc. In addition, this yard builds destroyers and submarines for the Japanese Navy and is equipped to repair all types of ships, both commercial and Navy. As is common with a number of Japanese shipyards, Kobe Works also has a Machinery Division where diesel engines, boilers, turbines, etc. are manufactured. Approximately 2300 persons were employed there during the early 1980s. Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. has developed its own technology as a pioneer manufacturer of industrial robots and Kawasaki Unimate is engaged in cooperative research and development under technical tie-up with Unimation Corporation of America. As a member of the Kawasaki group, the yard shared in this agreement with Unimation but initially had no robots in use in the shipyard. ISHIKAWAJIMA-HARIMA HEAVY INDUSTIRES CO., LTD. (IHI) The IHI Aioi Works Complex is comprised of the (a) Aioi shipyard undertaking the building, rebuilding and repair of ships and construction of bridges and other steel structures (b) the Aioi Diesel Engine Works which also serves the entire IHI complex with its casting foundry and (c) the Aioi Boiler Works which produces land and marine boilers, pressure vessels and other plant components. These three facilities employed approximately 5000 persons in the early 1980s. The Tamano Works of Mitsui Engineering and Shipbuilding is comprised of threedivisions; (1) Shipbuilding Division; (2) Steel Structures Division and (3)Process Plant and Machinery Division. The company was established in 1917 andhas grown over the years to its present employment level of approximately 6300persons with an additional 46 subcontracting companies employing some 3100persons.The Shipbuilding Division is comprised of two sections: (1) The NewbuildingSection and (2) the Ship Repair Section. The new construction section has thecapacity to build tankers and ore carriers up to 140,000 dwt, as well as shipsrequiring high technology such as multi-purpose cargo ships, refrigeratedcargo ships, container ships, LNG and LPG carriers. In addition, naval shipsand craft, offshore oil drilling rigs and other specialized equipment foroceanographic development, also constitute its major products.The Ship Repair Section, with its 150,000 dwt capacity floating dock and wellequipped mooring quays, can handle repairs and remodeling of ships of alltypes. The Ship Repair Section is very proud of its reputation for highquality work, having been designated as an authorized "Hull QA Yard" by severalclassification societies.The Steel Structures Division has built various steel structures such aspenstocks, lock gates, bridges, large tanks, etc. Combining its steelstructure technology with its shipbuilding techniques, the Steel StructuresDivision is now active in the field of building oceanographic equipment, suchas ocean platforms, oil drilling jacket modules and sea berths for large ships,as well as various structure for use in ports and harbors.The Industrial Machinery and Plant Engineering Division manufactures rotarymchinery, electric machinery, cranes, chemical plants, boilers, heavy machinery for casting and forged products and diesel engines.Among the many "firsts" accomplished by the Shipbuilding Division of Mitsui isincluded the building of the world's first automated cargo ship, followed bythe world's first diesel driven, three engine, three shaft, super high speedcontainer ships. It was here that for the first time in Japan, the ship typeoffshore oil drilling rig was built. The Ariake Works is the largest and most modern plant of Hitachi Zosen. It wascompleted in 1974 and contains approximately 5,000,000 sq. ft. of area, twothirds of which are devoted to shipbuilding and offshore equipment manufactureand one-third to land use machinery manufacturing. The shipbuilding facilityis very versatile; capable of producing small and medium size ships, as well asultra large ships, including LNG carriers, bulk carriers and tankers. Offshorestructures which have been built include offshore platforms, oil drilling rigsand jacket modules.The Land-Use Machinery Division is equally capable of manufacturing a widerange of products such as high temperature and high pressure vessels, towersand tanks. The ship construction for the Japanese Navy is kept underway at five to seven yards with varying construction schedules of 1 to 2 years. At least 4 to 5 yards have active destroyer building capacity and three yards have submarine building capacity. Political consideration was taken into account on the location and scheduling of ship contracts. The fit-up and welding on the naval surface ships was of the same high quality as in the commercial ships. There were over 5,000 shipyards in Japan in the 1980s, but a large part of the shipbuilding tonnage is constructed in the shipyards of seven major shipbuilding companies. Many of the shipbuilding facilities, particularly the older yards, have other heavy construction activities in or adjacent to their facilities, such as pressure vessels, boilers, diesel engines, bridges, etc., which help maintain a constant workload. Several new yards were built in the 1969-1974 era specifically for large volume oil tankers with special features to optimize their construction, such as an automatic egg crate jig for weldingthe longitudinal and transverse frames to the hull plating on tankers. These new facilities had a very small workload for their very large specialized capacity. The building docks in the new shipyards are very large, ranging in size up to 3000 feet long by 300 feet wide at the Koyagi Works, which equates to a maximum shipbuilding capacity of 1,000,000 dwt. The Japanese government, in an effort to keep the larger yards with those building docks from driving smaller yards out of business, has restricted the use of these building docks.
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