Gunichi Mikawa
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Gunichi Mikawa | |
|---|---|
| 29 August 1888 - 25 February 1981 | |
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| Place of birth | Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan |
| Allegiance | Empire of Japan |
| Service/branch |  Imperial Japanese Navy |
| Years of service | 1910-1945 |
| Rank | Vice Admiral |
| Commands held | Aoba, Chokai, Kirishima 3rd Battleship Division, 8th Fleet, 2nd Southern Expeditionary Fleet, 13th Air Fleet, South Western Area Fleet, 3rd Southern Expeditionary Fleet [1] |
| Battles/wars | World War II oattack on Pearl Harbor o Indian Ocean Raid o Battle of Midway. oBattle of Savo Island oNaval Battle of Guadalcanal |
| Awards | Order of the Rising Sun Order of the Sacred Treasures[2] |
- In this Japanese name, the family name is Mikawa.
Vice Admiral Gunichi Mikawa (三川軍一 Mikawa Gun'ichi?, 29 August 1888 - 25 February 1981) was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II.
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[edit] Early career
Mikawa was a native of Hiroshima prefecture. He graduated from the 38th class of the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy in 1910, ranked third of his class of 149 cadets. After midshipman service in the cruiser Asama, battleships Satsuma and Kōngo and cruiser Soya, he attended Naval Torpedo and Gunnery Schools from 1913- 1914. In late 1914 he joined the cruiser Aso for World War I duty, including a cruise to China. This was followed by tours in the destroyer Sugi and transport Seito and studies at the Japanese Naval War College.
From 1919-1920, Lieutenant Mikawa was attached to the Japanese delegation to the post-war Versailles Peace Treaty Conference in France.[3]
During the 1920s, Mikawa served as chief navigator on a number of ships, including the Haruna, Tatsuta, Ikoma, and Aso. He was subsequently an instructor at the Naval Torpedo School and held several other highly-visible posts. At the end of the decade, Commander Mikawa was part of the delegation to the London Naval Conference and shortly thereafter became naval attaché in Paris. Promoted to the rank of captain in late 1930, he returned to Japan to take up administrative and training duties.
He was commanding officer of the heavy cruisers Aoba and Chōkai and the battleship Kirishima in the mid-1930s.[4] Mikawa was promoted to rear admiral on 1 December 1936.
From 1 December 1936 to 15 November 1937 he was chief of staff of the IJN 2nd Fleet.[5] Mikawa had duty with the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff and Imperial General Headquarters from 1937 -1939, then went to sea again to command a succession of fleet squadrons, first in cruisers and then in battleships. He was promoted to vice admiral on 15 November 1940.[6]
[edit] World War II
At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Mikawa was in command of Battleship Division 3. He personally led the first section of his division as part of the screening force for the Pearl Harbor mission, while the remaining battleships were sent south to cover the landings of Japanese troops in Malaya. Mikawa likewise led from the front during the Indian Ocean Raid and the Battle of Midway.
From 14 July 1942 until 1 April 1943 Mikawa commanded the newly formed IJN 8th Fleet in the South Pacific, based primarily at the major bases at Rabaul on New Britain and Kavieng on New Ireland. During that time, he led Japanese naval forces involved in the Guadalcanal and Solomon Islands campaigns. On August 8 - 9, 1942 he led a force of cruisers that defeated Allied naval forces in the Battle of Savo Island. However, Mikawa was sharply criticized for his failure to aggressively follow up on his victory, withdrawing before he could sink the lightly defended Allied transports.
On the night of November 13 – 14, 1942 Mikawa led a cruiser force that bombarded Henderson Field on Guadalcanal during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. Throughout the Guadalcanal campaign he often directed runs of the “Tokyo Express” that delivered men and materiel to Guadalcanal. However, his attempt to land Japanese reinforcements in Lae turned into the disastrous Battle of the Bismark Sea, and he eventually had to take responsibility for the loss of the Solomon Islands, and was re-assigned to rear areas, such as the Philippines.
Mikawa had Naval General Staff and other shore posts in Japan during April-September 1943. From 3 September 194 to 18 June 1944 he commanded the 2nd Southern Expeditionary Fleet in the Philippines. Afterwards, he commanded the Southwestern Area Fleet and 13th Air Fleet from 18 June to 1 November 1944, also in the Philippines.[7]Reassigned to Japan following the October, 1944 Battle of Leyte Gulf, he left active duty in May, 1945.[8]
Mikawa and the Long Lance torpedo were commemorated in 1992 by a commemorative postage stamp issued by the Republic of the Marshall Islands.
[edit] References
[edit] Books
- D'Albas, Andrieu (1965). Death of a Navy: Japanese Naval Action in World War II. Devin-Adair Pub. ISBN 081595302X.
- Dull, Paul S. (1978). A Battle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1941-1945. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-097-1.
- Frank, Richard B. (1990). Guadalcanal : The Definitive Account of the Landmark Battle. New York: Penguin Group. ISBN 0-14-016561-4.
- Lacroix, Eric; Linton Wells (1997). Japanese Cruisers of the Pacific War. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0870213113.
- Loxton, Bruce; Chris Coulthard-Clark (1997). The Shame of Savo: Anatomy of a Naval Disaster. Australia: Allen & Unwin Pty Ltd. ISBN 1-86448-286-9.
- Morison, Samuel Eliot (1958). The Struggle for Guadalcanal, August 1942 – February 1943, vol. 5 of History of United States Naval Operations in World War II. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 0-316-58305-7.
[edit] External links
- Naval Historical Center biography of Gunichi Mikawa
- FUTURA DTP biography of Gunichi Mikawa
- Nishida, Hiroshi. Materials of IJN: Mikawa, Gunichi. Imperial Japanese Navy. Retrieved on 2007-08-03.
- Chen, Peter. Mikawa Gunichi. WW2 Database. Retrieved on 2007-08-03.
[edit] Notes
- ^ http://navalhistory.flixco.info/H/121794x19846/259869/a0.htm
- ^ Naval History via Flix, [1]
- ^ Naval Historical Center, [2]. Text is public domain and therefore not copyrighted.
- ^ Naval Historical Center, [3].
- ^ Wendel, Marcus, Axis History Factbook, [4]
- ^ Naval Historical Center, [5]
- ^ Wendel, Marcus, Axis History Factbook
- ^ Naval Historical Center, [6].
