Allies Axis Weapon Production - Naval Forces

Reflecting the German versus Allies naval forces philosophical differences on prosecuting the naval war it is only in submarines that the Axis nations out produce the Allied nations. Although Japan desired to expand their sea power capabilities, they did not have the wherewithal to match the US and UK naval forces production capabilities.

Sea Faring Culture

Of the five major World War II belligerents Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States were established sea faring nations. Although the Soviet Union had a large coastline most of it was iced in for much of the year or bottled up in the Black Sea. Prior to the outbreak of WWII, the UK’s Royal Navy was the largest in the world followed by the US and then Japan. Both the UK and the US navies prior to the war operated fully in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Whereas the Japanese navy mostly operated in the Pacific. Additionally, these three nations also had a significant trading capability.

Germany and the Soviet Union militarily were land based heavyweights. Although Germany went on a surface navy production spree in the mid to late 1930s it was their submarine production that would stand out. Germany’s large submarine force interdicted the UK and US sea movements but were not able to project power via the sea. The Soviet Union’s naval capabilities were mainly coastal versus ocean faring.

Production

The UK and the US both outproduced all Axis nations combined during WWII war years. The US produced 2,020 large surface naval vessels (large naval vessels defined as aircraft carriers, escort carriers, battleships, cruisers, destroyers, frigates & destroyer escorts, and other large vessels), the UK produced 558 large naval vessels and the Axis nations combined produced 398 large naval vessels.

Both Germany and Japan outproduced all Allied nations in submarines during WWII. Germany produced 1,119 submarines, Japan 867, and the Allies 577.

In smaller specialty naval vessels such as patrol boats, demining or landing craft production was almost all on the Allied side of the ledger.

Oil

WWII naval vessels required vast quantities of oil. The Allied nations had it and the Axis nations did not. The Japanese even took to using unrefined oils from occupied Borneo causing lower performance and higher maintenance. Lack of oil limited German and Japanese naval capabilities compounding their numerical disadvantage. In the Pacific the US submarines high priority targets included all merchant ships especially oil tankers. Whereas the Japanese submarines prioritized the US naval vessels. Lack of oil forced both German and Japanese vessels to use the shortest routes versus the longer safer routes.