Which country had a stronger military (army, air force, navy) at the outset of the pacific war?

Japan most likely. Havent seen a ranking list, supposedly the US was about equal with Romania or Bulgaria in 1940. Good sized Navy & that was about it.

It rings me a bell, and correct me if I'm wrong, that Japanese Imperial Navy was one of the top five in the world in that time, and US one was a modest fleet.

Wrong IMHO what was said so far.

In ´39 the US navy was "relatively" weak (but nothing even faintly comparable to Rumania or Bulgaria, just check the Battleship and Cruiser numbers and capabilites below, but in 1941 at the war entry the (ordered earlier than ´39) ships that in ´39 were still under construction were ready to deploy.

1939 stats (US):

- http://www.geocities.com/scs028a/BattleForce.html
- http://www.geocities.com/scs028a/CruBatFor.html
- http://www.geocities.com/scs028a/DesBatFor.html (Part I Destroyers)
- http://www.geocities.com/scs028a/DesBatFor2.html (Part II Destroyers)

Rattler

Originally Posted by rattler

Wrong IMHO what was said so far.

In ´39 the US navy was "relatively" weak (but nothing even faintly comparable to Rumania or Bulgaria, just check the Battleship and Cruiser numbers and capabilites below, but in 1941 at the war entry the (ordered earlier than ´39) ships that in ´39 were still under construction were ready to deploy.

1939 stats (US):

- http://www.geocities.com/scs028a/BattleForce.html
- http://www.geocities.com/scs028a/CruBatFor.html
- http://www.geocities.com/scs028a/DesBatFor.html (Part I Destroyers)
- http://www.geocities.com/scs028a/DesBatFor2.html (Part II Destroyers)

Rattler

Clarification: I was refering to the Army in regards to Bulgaria.

Originally Posted by George

Clarification: I was refering to the Army in regards to Bulgaria.

Noted, cannot comment on that claim for lack of knowledge.

Rattler

Either way, when the American industrial machine kicked in, there was no way the Japanese could match it.

Japan had been at war in China for years and was geared up for war, so at the start they had the upper hand. Japan had hoped the the US would seek terms quickly leaving them with the spoils. Thank goodness America is not like that, as many of the US factories were already on a war footing supplying arms for Britain then it was not such a job to rev these up for the benefit of America

The US army in 1939 was ranked behind that of Belgium at, from memory, 16th in the world in terms of size.
The US Navy was ranked 4th in the world, again from memory, as opposed to Japan at 5th in terms of tonnages. (although that might be the other way around) i think that there was almost parity of tonnages in the Pacific and that the American Atlantic Fleet put them over the top. if you take it in terms of carriers then America was 3rd and Japan 2nd in 1939; by 1941 Japan had taken the lead with losses to the RN and new construction for the IJN.
from memory the book i am trying to recall did not have a ranking for air forces; it did note that Japan had more modern types but many of these lacked self sealing fuel tanks and cockpit armour which proved significant disadvantages when the performance gap between Allied and Japanese air craft narrowed.
xxxx Days of War- A Day by Day Account of World War Two.

The USN was powerful enough to disrupt the flow of supplies from the Dutch East Indies to Japan... which was one of the main reasons why the Japanese took the fight to the Americans.