Japanese invasion of California following up Pearl Harbor?

[Vinnie]

We're there ever attempts to mine the Panama canal? Surely that would have been a tempting target for submarine mine layers or is the sheer distance too great?

 

[Actionjick]

We're there ever attempts to mine the Panama canal? Surely that would have been a tempting target for submarine mine layers or is the sheer distance too great?

I vaguely remember reading about an IJN submarine that could carry a seaplane and a plan to bomb the locks with it. Obviously never happened.

 

[Old Noob]

They did try to set the Pacific Northwest forests on fire, via submarine seaplane dropping incendiaries.
Failed due to the very small payload of the plane and the PNW wasn't in drought.

 

[Vinnie]

The PNE is too large an area for that to have been anything other than a nuisance. The canal is a choke point but as such I'd expect was heavily defended.

 

[Uncle_Duke]

I vaguely remember reading about an IJN submarine that could carry a seaplane and a plan to bomb the locks with it. Obviously never happened.

You're thinking of the I-400 class subs and the Aichi M6A aircraft. Though both the subs and aircraft were in service, the plan was scrapped when Japan surrendered.

 

[johnl]

They did try to set the Pacific Northwest forests on fire, via submarine seaplane dropping incendiaries.
Failed due to the very small payload of the plane and the PNW wasn't in drought.

Fujita Sword | Brookings, OR - Official Website

www.brookings.or.us

 

[Actionjick]

You're thinking of the I-400 class subs and the Aichi M6A aircraft. Though both the subs and aircraft were in service, the plan was scrapped when Japan surrendered.

Thanks Uncle Duke!

 

[Mister T]

They did try to set the Pacific Northwest forests on fire, via submarine seaplane dropping incendiaries.
Failed due to the very small payload of the plane and the PNW wasn't in drought.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fu-Go_balloon_bomb

 

[pensatl1962]

Any invasion of any kind in North America or Panama would have overextended Japanese logistic capabilities and the capability to protect such a supply line by far. It is no coincidence that they did not even attempt to invade Hawaii.

von Marwitz

Correct. The IJN had absolutely zero (no pun intended) chance of putting together an invasion force against the west coast. The logistics of such an endeavor are mind-boggling. Consider the planning and logistics for Neptune/Overlord, which involved only crossing the English Channel from a massive floating base (e.g., England). The best the Japanese could do was the invasion of Attu and Kiska, undefended, which they could not sustain. Any attack against the mainland would have been, at best, a raid (e.g., the I-25 attack that riled up some spotted owls in Oregon, 1942).

 

[Actionjick]

They squandered too many resources that couldn't be quickly replaced persuing pipe dreams.

 

[SSlunt]

Our friends from Canada would have saved us.

Remember Canada declared War on Japan before the Americans did. Canada stood alone against the Japanese Empire - all be it only for a couple of hours.