"IJN structure terminology conventions" Topic

So the question is about structure.

What are the terms used to describe unit size?

I have seen the term SubRon# as a organisation entity, what is it? They appear to have SubDiv as component.

Niehorster shows Fleet > Flotilla > Division is this recognisable?

In a Japanese wiki page I saw

• 第10特別根拠地隊
o 第7号掃海艇・第44掃海隊
o 第9警備隊・第11潜水艦基地隊・第10港務部・第23衛所隊
• 第11特別根拠地隊
o 第19・20・21・41・43号駆潜艇・永福丸

which google translates as

• 10th special ground squadron
o 7th Minesweeper / 44th Minesweeper
o 9th Guard, 11th Submarine Base, 10th Port Department, 23rd Guard
• 11th special ground squadron
o No. 19, 20, 21, 41, 43 submarine, Eifuku Maru

Most of this I can describe (10th Special Base Force etc). The 第 is a sort of 'th' term but is there any unit descriptor for the 'Submarine' or 'Minesweeper' units?

Thanks

John

I have seen the term SubRon# as a organisation entity, what is it?

That's USNavalese for Submarine SquadRon.

At least in the modern USN, it's a very flat organization, you go from individual Submarine to Squadron (SubRon) to Group (SubGru) to SUBPAC, boss of all the submarines in the Pacific Ocean.

With the much bigger submarine fleets in WW2 (230), I *think* SubDiv was a level between the individual submarine and the Squadron.

Hello John,

I think some of what you might be looking for is in No. 116 of Japanese Monographs. These are about 200 papers written postwar at the behest of the American occupation administration. No. 116 deals with the changing organization of the IJN. A number of the monographs (including No. 116) can be found online at Hyperwar:

link

And at Pacific War Archive:

link

Ryan T that looks promising, thanks. Some reading to do now.
Lion in the stars. Okay that means that the source is using USN convention in translation.

Ta