A lot of what passes for Ben Franklin and Abe Lincoln quotes are questionable, at best. Even if he never said it though, it’s the truth. No society in the history of mankind was or is anywhere near as well armed, not even the Swiss.
What I’ve read is that, while he probably didn’t actually say the quote, the sentiment it reflects was well in place...at least within the Imperial Navy. (The Army may have been another matter, given some of the puffed-up, overreaching “geniuses” they fielded, like Mutaguchi, Hatachi and the infamous Masanobu Tsuji.)