Developer Diary - Warships of the Pacific

Ahoy everyone!

My name is Slurpen_Paradox and I would like to welcome you aboard for this in-depth look at Warships of the Pacific! My design colleague Jamor and I would like to bring you up close and personal with the ships featured in this DLC, as well as a brief look into the stories behind them. So hoist your anchor and join us, as we delve deep into the content and rich history behind this pack. As the name suggests, this pack focuses on various warships that played a role in the Pacific theater. This means that you will have access to a bunch of new ships for Japan, the United States and the Commonwealth, with representation for the Royal Navy and the RAN. This Developer Diary will showcase a selection of these. In keeping with the Pacific theme of the latest expansion, there are also some new ships for Nationalist China, Communist China and the Soviet Union. And now a word from Jamor: alongside the wonderful unit art for some of the ships featured in this pack. He will provide a bit of historical context for each ship in italics.

The Rising Sun over the Pacific

From the earliest days of their reentry into the international community after the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the Japanese understood that their island nation would never be able to defend itself nor assert power abroad without a strong navy. A relative newcomer to the international arms race, by aggressive investment and innovation they rapidly became a major naval power, beating Russia at Tsushima in 1905. Now Japan stands poised to challenge for Great Power status on the high seas. IJN Sentoku (I-400 Class) The I-400 class holds the distinction of being the largest submarines to see operational service in WW2. First commissioned in 1944, they could carry and deploy 3 Aichi M6A seaplanes. These submersible carriers had a global range, and were intended to threaten US Navy task forces and even the American mainland. As the war situation turned increasingly desperate, the I-400 class were planned to take part in attacks on the Panama Canal locks, and even a fanciful attempt to drop biological weapons on the west coast, but neither operation was carried out before the end of the conflict. All three completed boats were captured intact and eventually sunk as target ships by the US Navy. IJN Shinano Shinano had a short and tragic life. Laid down in 1940 as the third Yamato-class super battleship, she was hurriedly converted into an aircraft carrier following the calamitous losses the Kidō Butai suffered at Midway in 1942. While large and very heavily armoured due to her ancestry as a big gun ship of the line, the improvised nature of her conversion meant she could only carry a very small air group. In the rush to get her to the fleet, this 65,000 ton behemoth was pushed into sea trials with a poorly trained crew and inadequate damage control measures. She was torpedoed and sunk by a US submarine during her fitting out cruise in November 1944. But, just imagine what could have been if this monster had made it into a proper battle! IJN Ise Ah, the Ise (Eee-say). In a navy renowned for visually striking and unorthodox designs, this gal is one of the wildest of the lot. From the old school casemate guns to the vertigo-inducing pagoda mast, and no less than TWELVE 14 inch guns in 6