Launching Osprey's new Fleet series, this is a spectacularly illustrated, concise and comprehensive account of the Imperial Japanese Navy's striking force at the height of its power. The Imperial Japanese Navy entered the Pacific War as one of the three strongest navies in the world, and its Combined Fleet was its most powerful formation. It enjoyed an unrivaled string of successes, shocking the world with the destructive raid on Pearl Harbor. In the months that followed, the fleet shattered US Navy, British, Australian, and Dutch naval forces while seizing their colonies. But defeat at the Battle of Midway ended Japan's supremacy, and marked the first major turning point of Japan's fortunes. Packed with superb original artwork, maps, and 3D diagrams, this book explains what made the Combined Fleet the fighting force that it was, both in strengths and weaknesses. It examines the IJN's prewar and early war doctrines, which drove the fleet's tactics and weaponry development. The IJN included some of the most powerful and innovative ships in the world, and the composition of the fleet, its ships and weapons are also detailed.

But there were other factors at work that determined the Japanese Navy's fate. These lesser-known factors, such as leadership, logistics, naval infrastructure, and Japan's shipbuilding industry are also an important part of the story. This book also gives an account and analysis of the IJN's performance in combat and where the Combined Fleet succeeded and failed, not only in the famous carrier actions of Pearl Harbor, the Coral Sea, Java Sea, and Midway, but also exploring lesser-known elements such as IJN amphibious forces and land-based aviation.