- Joint Army-Navy Assessment Committee
Joint Army-Navy Assessment Committee (
JANAC ) was an United States inter-service agency set up to analyze and assess Japanese naval and merchant marine shipping losses caused by U.S. and Allied forces duringWorld War II .Background
In January 1943, JANAC was formed by General
George Marshall , the Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, and AdmiralErnest J. King , theChief of Naval Operation and Commander-in-Chief, United States Fleet (COMINCH), to assess enemy naval and merchant shipping losses during World War II. [cite web |url=http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/Japan/IJN/JANAC-Losses/index.html#fwd |title=Foreword |accessdate=2008-09-04 |work=JANAC |publisher=Hyperwar.com |date= ] The objectives of JANAC were as set forth in the following joint Army-Navy directive:JANAC consisted of representatives of the
U.S. Navy , theU.S. Army , and theArmy Air Forces , with a joint Army-Navy secretariat, under the chaimanship of Rear Admiral Walter DeLaney. [cite web |url=http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/Japan/IJN/JANAC-Losses/index.html#fwd |title=Foreword |accessdate=2008-09-04 |work=JANAC |publisher=Hyperwar.com |date= ] Following the war, Rear AdmiralJerauld Wright succeeded Delany as JANAC chairman. [cite book | last=Key Jr | first=David M. | coauthors= | year=2001 | month=September | title=Admiral Jerauld Wright: Warrior among Diplomats | publisher=Sunflower University Press | location=Manhattan, Kansas | isbn=1-55750-217-X | pages=pp. 236-240 , heeafter referred to as "Warrior among Diplomats"]Methodology & Results
JANAC used the following sources to compile information on Japanese vessel losses during World War Two: [cite web |url=http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/Japan/IJN/JANAC-Losses/index.html#fwd |title=Foreword |accessdate=2008-09-04 |work=JANAC |publisher=Hyperwar.com |date= ]
* Prisoner of War Reports
* Captured Enemy Documents
* United States and Allied Intelligence Sources
* Naval Shipping Control Authority for Japanese Merchant Marine (SCAJAP)
* Ariyoshi's Final List (Japanese)
* Ariyoshi's List (Japanese)
* Shipowners' List (Japanese)
* Naval Ministry List (Japanese)
* United States Mine Warfare Report
* United States and Allied Action Summaries
* United States Photographic Intelligence
* United States Strategic Bombing Survey (USSBS) ReportsThe assessment of losses, unanimously agreed to by all JANAC members of the committee, was published in 1947, which included:
* All Naval vessels known or believed to have been lost.
* All merchant vessels of 500 or more gross tons known or believed to have been lost.JANAC provided a detailed chronology of Japanese naval and merchant marine losses cross-indexed in the appendix of its final report, including a separate summamry about losses caused by U.S. submarines. [cite web |url=http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/Japan/IJN/JANAC-Losses/index.html#fwd |title=Foreword |accessdate=2008-09-04 |work=JANAC |publisher=Hyperwar.com |date= ] JANAC noted that a negligible number of vessels were not assessed because of insufficient information as to the cause of loss. [cite web |url=http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/Japan/IJN/JANAC-Losses/index.html |title=Contents |accessdate=2008-09-04 |work=JANAC |publisher=Hyperwar.com |date= ]
Although JANAC tended to revised downward wartime esimates, one noteworthy exception involved the fifth war patrol of the USS "Archerfish" (SS-311) under the command of Commander
Joseph F. Enright . "Archerfish" was credited with sinking a 28,000-ton "Hiyō"-class aircraft carrier during the war, but JANAC determined that "Archerfish" had actually sunk the 59,000-ton supercarrier "Shinano", making this the most successful submarine patrol of the Pacific War. [Blair. "Silent Victory", p. 777 - 780; Appendix I]Battle of Midway
JANAC also addressed wartime claims made by the
U.S. Army Air Force regarding the sinking of the Japaneses aircraft carriers "Kaga", "Akagi", "Hiryū", and "Sōryū" during theBattle of Midway by giving sole credit to the U.S. Navy. ["Warrior among Diplomates", p. 239]ee also
*
Allied submarines in the Pacific War
*Strategic Bombing Survey Notes
Bibliography
Primary Sources
* JANAC (Joint Army-Navy Assessment Committee). "Japanese Naval and Merchant Shipping Losses. During World War II by all causes" (Washington, DC:
U.S. Government Printing Office , 1947)
* Special Research History – Navy Department Library –Naval Historical Center :
** SRH-163 - Joint Army-Navy Assessment Committee (JANAC), Miscellaneous Memoranda, 1943-1947
** SRH-164 - Memoranda from COMINCH, (F-20) to Joint Army-Navy Assessment Committee (JANAC), 1944-1945
** SRH-165 - Memoranda from Office of Naval Communications to Joint Army-Navy Assessment Committee (JANAC), 1943-1944
** SRH-166 - Joint Army-Navy Assessment Committee (JANAC), Memoranda to Office of Naval Communication
** SRH-167 - Memoranda from Army Signal Corps to Joint Army-Navy Assessment Committee (JANAC), 1945-1946
** SRH-168 - Agenda Minutes/Assessments, Joint Army-Navy Assessment Committee (JANAC)econdary Sources
*
Clay Blair Jr. "Silent Victory: The U.S. Submarine War Against Japan" (Philadelphia:Lippincott , 1975)ISBN : 1-55750-217-X (Paperback)
* David M. Key Jr. "Admiral Jerauld Wright: Warrior among Diplomats" (Manhattan, Kansas: Sunflower University Press, 2001)ISBN : 0-89745-251-8External links
* [http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/Japan/IJN/JANAC-Losses/index.html JANAC] - HyperWar
** [http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/Japan/IJN/JANAC-Losses/index.html#fwd Foreword]
** [http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/Japan/IJN/JANAC-Losses/JANAC-Losses-1.html Graphs of Japanese Shipping Losses]
** [http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/Japan/IJN/JANAC-Losses/JANAC-Losses-2.html Summaries of Japanese Shipping Losses]
** [http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/Japan/IJN/JANAC-Losses/JANAC-Losses-3.html Chronological List of Japanese Naval Losses]
** [http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/Japan/IJN/JANAC-Losses/JANAC-Losses-4.html Chronological List of Japanese Merchant Vessel Losses]
** [http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/Japan/IJN/JANAC-Losses/JANAC-Losses-5.html Alphabetical Index]
** [http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/Japan/IJN/JANAC-Losses/JANAC-Losses-6.html Appendix - Japanese Naval and Merchant Vessels Sunk During World War II by United States Submarines]
* [http://www.valoratsea.com/JANAC.htm Japanese Naval and Merchant Vessels Sunk During WWII By All U.S. Submarines] - Valor at Sea: The U.S. Submarine War in the Pacific War 1941 - 1945
* [http://www.pigboats.com/ww2/ww2sinkings.html Ships and Tonnage Sunk or Damaged in WW II by U.S. Submarines] - Pigboats.com
* [http://www.navy.mil/navydata/cno/n87/history/wwii-campaigns.html "Results of the German and American Submarine Campaigns of World War II" by Comander Michel Thomas Poirier, U.S. Navy (20 October 1999)] -Chief of Naval Operations - Submarine Warfare Division
* [http://ahoy.tk-jk.net/macslog/TopTenUSNavySubmarineCapt.html Top Ten US Navy Submarine Captains in WW2 By Number of Confirmed Ships Sunk]
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