1st Fleet
Active28 December 1903 – 25 February 1944
CountryEmpire of Japan
Branch Imperial Japanese Navy
Commanders
Notable
commanders		Heihachiro Togo
Kōichi Fujii
Osami Nagano
Isoroku Yamamoto
Chuichi Nagumo

The 1st Fleet (第一艦隊, Dai-ichi Kantai) was the main battleship fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy.

History

First established on 28 December 1903, the IJN 1st Fleet was created during the Russo-Japanese War when the Imperial General Headquarters divided the Readiness Fleet into a mobile strike force of cruisers and destroyers to pursue the Imperial Russian Navy's Vladivostok-based cruiser squadron (the Imperial Japanese Navy's 2nd Fleet), while the remaining bulk of the Japanese fleet (the IJN 1st Fleet) continued to blockade Port Arthur in hopes of luring the battleships of the Russian Pacific Fleet out into a classic line-of-battle confrontation. The two fleets were combined into the Combined Fleet for the final Battle of Tsushima. The decisive victory of the Japanese fleet over the Imperial Russian Navy at the Battle of Tsushima validated the doctrine of the "decisive victory", or kantai kessen as stipulated by naval theorists such as Alfred Thayer Mahan and Satō Tetsutarō in the eyes of the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff, and future naval procurement and deployment was centered on refinements of this doctrine.[1] The Mahanian objective was to build a fleet in being, a naval force kept deliberately in strategic reserve, as secondary forces based on cruisers and destroyers waged a campaign of attrition against an approaching enemy, who would then be destroyed in a climactic final battle similar to the Battle of Tsushima.[2][3] As a result of this doctrine, although individual ships and task forces were dispatched on occasion for specific combat operations, the main force in the Imperial Japanese Navy was mostly held in reserve from the time of its inception until near the end of World War II.

Commanders of the IJN 1st Fleet

[4]

Commander-in-ChiefDatesPrevious PostNext PostNotes
1Vice-Admiral
Tōgō Heihachirō
東郷平八郎		28 December
1903		20 December
1905		Commander-in-chief
Standing Fleet		Chairman
Navy General Staff		Promoted to Admiral 6 June 1904
Also Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet
for entire tenure.
2Vice-Admiral
Kataoka Shichirō
片岡七郎		20 December
1905		22 November
1906		Commander-in-chief
3rd Fleet		Director
Naval Shipping Bureau
3Vice-Admiral
Arima Shinichi
有馬新一		22 November
1906		26 May
1908
4Vice-Admiral
Ijūin Gorō
伊集院五郎		26 May
1908		1 December
1909		Commander-in-chief
2nd Fleet		Chairman
Navy General Staff		Also Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet
from 8 October to 20 November 1908
5Vice-Admiral
Kamimura Hikonojō
上村彦之丞		1 December
1909		1 December
1911		Commander-in-chief
Yokosuka Naval District		Naval CouncilorPromoted to Admiral
6Vice-Admiral
Dewa Shigetō
出羽重遠		1 December
1911		1 December
1913		Commander-in-chief
Sasebo Naval District		Naval CouncilorPromoted to Admiral
7Vice-Admiral
Katō Tomosaburō
加藤友三郎		1 December
1913		10 August
1915		Commander-in-chief
Sasebo Naval District		Minister of the Navy
8Vice-Admiral
Kōichi Fujii
藤井較一		10 August
1915		23 September
1915		Commander-in-chief
Sasebo Naval District		Commander-in-chief
Yokosuka Naval District
9Vice-Admiral
Yoshimatsu Shigetarō
吉松茂太郎		23 September
1915		1 December
1917		Commander-in-chief
Kure Naval District		Naval CouncilorPromoted to Admiral
Also Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet
8 October to 20 November 1915, 1 September to 14 October 1916,
1 to 22 October 1917
10Vice-Admiral
Yamashita Gentarō
山下源太郎		1 December
1917		1 December
1919		Commander-in-chief
Sasebo Naval District		Naval CouncilorPromoted to Admiral
Also Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet
1 September to 15 October 1918, 1 June to 28 October 1919
11Admiral
Yamaya Tanin
山屋他人		1 December
1919		24 August
1920		Commander-in-chief
2nd Fleet		Commander-in-chief
Yokosuka Naval District		Also Commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet
from 1 May 1920
12Admiral
Tochinai Sojirō
栃内曽次郎		24 August
1920		27 July
1922		Vice-Minister of the NavyCommander-in-chief
Sasebo Naval District		Also Commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet
until 31 October 1920 and from 1 May to 31 October 1921
13Vice-Admiral
Takeshita Isamu
竹下勇		27 July
1922		27 January
1924		Commander-in-chief
Kure Naval District		Promoted to Admiral 3 August 1923
Also Commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet
from 1 December 1922
Command of Combined Fleet and 1st Fleet
would be unified for the next 20 years.
14Admiral
Suzuki Kantarō
鈴木貫太郎		27 January
1924		1 December
1924		Commander-in-chief
Kure Naval District		Naval Councilor
15Admiral
Okada Keisuke
岡田啓介		1 December
1924		10 December
1926		Naval CouncilorCommander-in-chief
Yokosuka Naval District
16Vice-Admiral
Katō Hiroharu
加藤寛治		10 December
1926		10 December
1928		Commander-in-chief
Yokosuka Naval District		Naval CouncilorPromoted to Admiral 1 April 1927
17Admiral
Taniguchi Naomi
谷口尚真		10 December
1928		11 November
1929		Commander-in-chief
Kure Naval District		Commander-in-chief
Kure Naval District
18Vice-Admiral
Yamamoto Eisuke
山本英輔		11 November
1929		1 December
1931		Commander-in-chief
Yokosuka Naval District		Naval CouncilorPromoted to Admiral 1 March 1931
19Vice-Admiral
Kobayashi Seizō
小林躋造		1 December
1931		15 November
1933		Vice-Minister of the NavyNaval CouncilorPromoted to Admiral 1 April 1933
20Vice-Admiral
Suetsugu Nobumasa
末次信正		15 November
1933		15 November
1934		Commander-in-chief
2nd Fleet		Commander-in-chief
Yokosuka Naval District		Promoted to Admiral 30 March 1934
21Vice-Admiral
Takahashi Sankichi
高橋三吉		15 November
1934		1 December
1936		Commander-in-chief
2nd Fleet		Naval CouncilorPromoted to Admiral 1 April 1936
22Vice-Admiral
Mitsumasa Yonai
米内光政		1 December
1936		2 February
1937		Commander-in-chief
Yokosuka Naval District		Minister of the Navy
23Admiral
Nagano Osami
永野修身		2 February
1937		1 December
1937		Minister of the NavyNaval Councilor
24Vice-Admiral
Yoshida Zengo
吉田善吾		1 December
1937		30 August
1939		Commander-in-chief
2nd Fleet		Minister of the Navy
25Vice-Admiral
Yamamoto Isoroku
山本五十六		30 August
1939		11 August
1941		Vice-Minister of the NavyCommander-in-chief
Combined Fleet		Promoted to Admiral 15 November 1940
Command of Combined Fleet and 1st Fleet separated.
26Vice Admiral
Takasu Shirō
高須四郎		11 August
1941		14 July
 1942		Commander-in-chief
4th Fleet		Attendant
Navy General Staff
27Vice-Admiral
Shimizu Mitsumi
清水光美		14 July
1942		20 October
1943
28Vice-Admiral
Nagumo Chūichi
南雲忠一		20 October
1943		25 February
1944		Commander-in-chief
Kure Naval District

Chief of Staff[4]

RankNameDate
1Fleet AdmiralBaron Hayao Shimamura28 December 1903 – 12 January 1905
2Fleet AdmiralViscount Tomosaburō Katō12 January 1905 – 20 December 1905
3AdmiralKōichi Fujii20 December 1905 – 22 November 1906
4Fleet AdmiralBaron Yamashita Gentarō22 November 1906 – 10 December 1908
5AdmiralTakarabe Takeshi10 December 1908 – 1 December 1909
6AdmiralKaneo Nomaguchi1 December 1909 – 11 March 1911
7Vice AdmiralSaneyuki Akiyama11 March 1911 – 1 December 1912
8AdmiralIsamu Takeshita1 December 1912 – 24 May 1913
xposition vacant24 May 1913 – 1 December 1913
9Vice AdmiralTetsutaro Sato1 December 1913 – 17 April 1914
10Vice AdmiralKazuyoshi Yamaji17 April 1914 – 1 December 1914
11Vice AdmiralShibakichi Yamanaka1 December 1914 – 13 December 1915
12Vice AdmiralSaburo Horiuchi13 December 1915 – 1 December 1917
13Vice AdmiralHanroku Saito1 December 1917 – 1 December 1918
14Vice AdmiralKajishiro Funakoshi1 December 1918 – 1 December 1919
15Vice AdmiralHansaku Yoshioka1 December 1919 – 1 December 1921
16Vice AdmiralKumazo Shirane1 December 1921 – 1 December 1923
17Rear AdmiralBekinari Kabayama1 December 1923 – 10 November 1924
18Vice AdmiralKanjiro Hara10 November 1924 – 1 December 1925
19Vice AdmiralNaotaro Ominato1 December 1925 – 1 November 1926
20AdmiralSankichi Takahashi1 November 1926 – 1 December 1927
21Vice AdmiralEijiro Hamano1 December 1927 – 10 December 1928
22Vice AdmiralKen Terajima10 December 1928 – 30 October 1929
23AdmiralKoichi Shiozawa30 October 1929 – 1 December 1930
24AdmiralShigetarō Shimada1 December 1930 – 1 December 1931
25AdmiralZengo Yoshida1 December 1931 – 15 September 1933
26AdmiralSoemu Toyoda15 September 1933 – 15 March 1935
27AdmiralNobutake Kondō15 March 1935 – 15 November 1935
28AdmiralNaokuni Nomura15 November 1935 – 16 November 1936
29Rear AdmiralYasutaro Iwashita16 November 1936 – 18 February 1937
30Vice AdmiralJisaburo Ozawa18 February 1937 – 15 November 1937
31Vice AdmiralIbo Takahashi15 November 1937 – 5 November 1939
32Vice AdmiralShigeru Fukudome5 November 1939 – 10 April 1941
33AdmiralSeiichi Ito10 April 1941 – 11 August 1941
34Vice AdmiralKengo Kobayashi11 August 1941 – 6 January 1943
35Vice AdmiralGihachi Takayanagi6 January 1943 – 25 February 1944

References

  1. ↑ Peattie & Evans, Kaigun
  2. ↑ Willmont, After Midway: Japanese Naval Strategy 1942-45, pp. 177–199
  3. ↑ Evans, Kaigun
  4. 1 2 Wendel, Axis History Database

Books

  • D'Albas, Andrieu (1965). Death of a Navy: Japanese Naval Action in World War II. Devin-Adair Pub. ISBN 0-8159-5302-X.
  • Dull, Paul S. (1978). A Battle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1941–1945. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-097-1.
  • Evans, David (1979). Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887–1941. US Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-192-7.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.