Seiichi Ito

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Seiichi Ito (伊藤 整一 Itō Seiichi, 1890-April 7, 1945) was a Japanese admiral and commander of the IJN 2nd Fleet during World War II.

Born in Fukuoka Prefecture, Ito graduated from the Japanese Naval Academy in 1911, and later Naval Staff College in 1923, in various posts throughout the decade before eventually commanding several cruisers between 1933 and 1936, most prominently as Captain of the battleship IJN Haruna.

In 1937, Ito became a Rear Admiral and appointed Chief of Staff to the IJN 2nd Fleet and the following year, he was named chief of the Navy Ministry's Personnel Bureau. After serving for two years, Ito commanded Cruiser Division 8 in November, 1940 until his appointment as Chief of Staff of the Combined Fleet in April, 1941.

In September of that year, Ito became vice chief of the Navy General Staff and promoted Vice Admiral a month later. A post he would hold throughout the Second World War, Ito was placed in command of the IJN 2nd Fleet based on the Inland Sea in December 1944. In the last months of the war, Ito commanded the last major offensive by the Imperial Japanese Navy (Operation TEN-GO) when, in April 1945, he led the superbattleship IJN Yamato (included in the fleet consisted of one light cruiser and ten destroyers) in an attempt to destroy US naval forces based near Okinawa. Ito would be killed in the resulting Battle of the East China Sea when the Yamato was sunk, along with one light cruiser and four destroyers, by US aircraft carriers on April 7, 1945.

Promotions

Midshipman - 18 July 1911

Ensign - 1 December 1912

Sublieutenant - 1 December 1914

Lieutenant - 1 December 1917

Lieutenant Commander - 1 December 1923

Commander - 1 December 1927

Captain - 1 December 1931

Rear Admiral - 15 November 1938

Vice Admiral - 15 October 1941

Admiral - 7 April 1945 (Posthumously)

[edit] References

• O’Connor, Raymond, ed., The Japanese Navy in World War II, Annapolis: U.S. Naval Institute, 1969. (Anthology of articles by former officers of the Imperial Japanese Navy and Air Defense Force)