Boshiro Hosogaya
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Boshiro Hosogaya (1890-1964) was a Japanese Admiral during World War II from 1941-1945.
Hosogaya was born in Nagano prefecture in 1890. Graduating from the Japanese Naval Academy in 1908, and later the Naval Staff College in 1920, Hosogaya held various posts in naval bases and warships during the early 1920s to early 1930s. He was appointed Captain of the Battleship IJN Mutsu in 1934.
Promoted to Rear Admiral in 1935, he was commander of both the Communications and Torpedo Schools during 1935/6. Becoming a Vice Admiral in 1939, he was assigned as commandant of the Port Arthur (Lushun) naval base.
Shortly before Japan began preparing for war against the United States Hosogaya was given command of the Central China Fleet from 1940-1941. In July 1942 Hosogaya was appointed Admiral of the Japanese IJN Fifth Fleet in command of the North Pacific forces.
On March 26, 1943 during an escort of two transport ships to reinforce the occupied Kiska Island in the Aleutian Islands his fleet, consisting of two heavy cruisers, two light cruisers, and four destroyers, was intercepted by an American fleet of two light cruisers and four destroyers under Rear Admiral Charles H. McMorris near the Komandorski Islands. In the ensuing Battle of the Komandorski Islands, concerned with protecting his transport ships, Hosogaya was unable to defeat the smaller American force and withdrew after severely damaging the USS Salt Lake City (CA-25).
His defeat would later lose him his command and he was placed on the reserve list later that year. He served as Governor of the South Seas Agency in Truk for the remainder of the war. From 1945 he lived in retirement until his death in 1964.
[edit] See also
[edit] Further reading
- Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of United States Naval Operations in World War II Vol. VII, Aleutains, Gilberts, and Marshalls, June 1942-April 1944. 15 Vol. Boston, 1947-1962
