Eight-Eight Fleet Program

The Eight-Eight Fleet Program (八八艦隊, Hachihachi Kantai^?) was a Japanese naval strategy formulated for the development of the Imperial Japanese Navy in the first quarter of the 20th century, which stipulated that the navy should include eight first-class battleships and eight armoured cruisers or battlecruisers.

The "Eight-Eight Fleet" concept originated in post-Russo-Japanese War period with the 1907 Imperial Defense Policy, which was a settlement reached by the competing Army and Navy factions of the Japanese government.

The Naval faction, inspired by the Mahanian doctrine of Satō Tetsutarō, argued that Japanese security could only be guaranteed by a strong navy. Satō argued that to ensure security, Japan should be capable of defeating the power which represented the greatest potential threat. In the 1907 Imperial National Defense Policy, Japan’s military focus shifted away from the defeated Imperial Russia and towards the United States as the primary threat to Japan's future security. In Japanese minds, the United States had proven to be an aggressive expansionist power in Asia, with its annexation of the Kingdom of Hawaii and colonization of the newly formed First Philippine Republic. The Open Door Policy towards China was in conflict with Japanese aspirations on the Asian mainland, and its immigration policies were perceived as an indication of American racial enmity towards the Japanese.

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