Introduction
The following series of essays and pictures regard a fictional set of Imperial Japanese naval vessels developed by my friend Admiral U. Furashita. These units never sailed the seas, except in the Admiral's imagination, as part of his "Victory Through Seapower" World War II wargame. I hope you are as amused by them as I am.
Large Monitor (MB) Aki
Battlecruiser (BC)
Aratama
Light Battlecruiser (BCL)
Chichibu
Light Battlecruiser (BCL)
Goryo
Battleship (BB) Hiraga
Aircraft Submarine (SSV)
I-400 Class
Large Cruiser (CB)
Kawachi
Battleship (BB)
Kii
Heavy Carrier (CVB)
Musashi Class
Catamaran Aircraft Carrier (CVLV) Nibai
Battlecruiser (BC)
Owari Class
Aircraft Cruiser (CAV)
Sagami Class
Large Battleship (BBB) Satsuma
Heavy Seaplane Carrier (AVB)
Scruyu
Carrier (CV)
Tosa Class
Large Carrier (CVB)
Yonaga
Large Battleship (BBB) Yokozuna
"Admiral U. Furashita" was the pen-name of Craig Burke. In his words:
"I picked that name because I liked to dally in fictitious ships. Since the Japanese tongue usually makes an 'R' sound out of any 'L' it encounters, that's how what people often say to me would sound, or something like it.
"My father served aboard the USS Enterprise at the Marshalls raids through Santa Cruz as a junior radar officer.When I was a boy of 12, I read my father's copy of Eugene Burns' "Then There Was One", a contemporary account of the Enterprise's first year of World War II. For the next 36+ years I was hooked on tales of air-sea warfare of that era and read voraciously. I cut my gaming teeth on Avalon Hill's series of wargames and 'found my thrill' with the VITP/WAS game system. From there I developed a World War II wargame encompassing the globe. Not content with history, I developed the "Grand Fleet" scenarios for fun. On my first try at the Internet, I saw the "Nihon Kaigun" page and actually knew what it meant. Now I am here."
The rest of us at Combined Fleet were saddened to learn of Craig's passing on 4 February, 2013, after a long battle with prostate cancer. His... unique... sense of humor and constantly upbeat correspondence were a pleasure to have received over the course of the 18 years he was a contributor to this site. I will miss him very much.
The illustrations in the "Grand Fleet" monographs come largely from
Siegfried Breyer's "Battleships and Battlecruisers 1905-1970," with
generous cutting, pasting, and drawing by Craig Burke
(a.k.a. Admiral U. Furashita). Some drawings by J.M. Thornton that he
have "doctored" appear as well, from a regrettably now-forgotten
book. Richard Hamblen and Don Greenwood created the core
game systems for Avalon Hill's "VITP" and "WAS" from which
Craig Burke developed the "VTS" and "Grand Fleet" variants.
"Flying Flags" and "floating bottle"courtesy of
A Word from the
Admiral...
http://thepage.simplenet.com
