IJN 4th Fleet
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The IJN 4th Fleet (第四艦隊 (日本海軍) Dai-yon Kantai?) was a fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy, which was created on three separate occasions.
Contents |
[edit] History
[edit] Russo-Japanese War
First established on 14 June 1905, the IJN 4th Fleet was created after the Battle of Tsushima in the Russo-Japanese War specifically to support and cover the landings of Japanese forces in Sakhalin. Afterwards, it was sent to the United States with the Japanese delegation negotiating the Treaty of Portsmouth ending the war, and was disbanded on 20 December 1905.
[edit] Second Sino-Japanese War
On 20 October 1937, the IJN 4th Fleet was resurrected as part of the emergency reinforcement program for the China Area Fleet after the North China Incident of 1937. The new IJN 4th fleet was based out of Tsingtao and assigned to patrol the Bohai Sea and the East China Sea regions. However, unlike the IJN 5th Fleet, the IJN 4th Fleet was never in actual combat. On 15 November 1939, the IJN 4th Fleet was absorbed into the 3rd China Expeditionary Fleet under the overall aegis of the China Area Fleet. Although most of its ships were released for service with the Combined Fleet in the Pacific War a year later, most of the staff for the IJN 4th Fleet remained in China, and were assigned to the Tsingtao Base Force for the duration of the war.
[edit] Pacific War
On the same date at that the IJN 4th Fleet was absorbed into the China Area Fleet, a new IJN 4th Fleet was created to provide administrative control over Japanese naval forces in the Japanese-held island territories of the South Pacific (Caroline Islands, Marshall Islands, Mariana Islands, Palau). This third IJN 4th Fleet came under the aegis of the Combined Fleet on 15 November 1940. With the start of hostilities against the United States, the IJN 4th Fleet was based out of Truk, with a secondary base at Kwajalein. After initial Japanese successes, additional bases were established in the southern Philippines, Guam, Wake Island, Gilbert Islands, eastern New Guinea, Bismarck Archipelago and the Solomon Islands. After the Battle of the Coral Sea, the area covered by the IJN 4th Fleet was reduced to an “inner core” of Japanese possessions, while the new IJN 8th Fleet was assigned to confront the advancing American forces in the Solomon Islands and New Guinea. However, in November 1943, the Americans attacked the Gilbert Islands and captured the major naval base of Tarawa, which brought the IJN 4th Fleet and its various garrison forces back into the front lines of combat.
The Americans continued to advance through the Gilbert and Marshall islands in early 1944, capturing the IJN 4th Fleet HQ in Truk in February, and pushing the surviving units back to Palau, which also proved vulnerable to air attack.
In March 1944, the IJN 4th Fleet came under operational control of the Central Pacific Area Fleet based in Saipan. It effectively ceased to exist with the fall of Saipan to American forces. [1]
[edit] Structure
[edit] Russo-Japanese War
- Cruiser Division 7 (Chinen, Iki, Okinoshima, Mishima)
- Cruiser Division 8 (Itsukushima, Hashidate, Matsushima)
- Cruiser Division 9 (Chokai, Maya, Akagi, Uji, Destroyer Divisions 1, 10, 11, 15 and 20)
- Auxiliaries: Manshu, Tanan-maru.
[edit] Second Sino-Japanese War
- Flagship: Ashigara
- Cruiser Division 9: Myōkō, Nagara
- Cruiser Division 14: Tenryū, Tatsuta
- No.4 Torpedo Squadron: Kiso,
- Destroyer Division 6
- Destroyer Division 10
- Destroyer Division 11
- No.5 Torpedo Squadron: Natori
- Destroyer Division 5
- Destroyer Division 22
[edit] Order of Battle at time of Pearl Harbor
- Flagship: Kashima
- Cruiser Division 18 (Wake Invasion Task Force, based at Kwajalein)
- Minesweeper Division 19 (Gilbert Island Invasion Task Force)
- Tennyo-maru
- Tokiwa (converted to minelayer)
- Okinoshima (converted to minelayer)
- Tsugaru (conveted to minelayer)
- Destroyer Squadron 6 (partial)
- Destroyer Division 29 (Asamage, Umage)
- Submarine Squadron 7 (based at Kwajalein)
- Submarine tender Jinkei
- Submarine Division 26
- Submarine Division 27
- Submarine Division 28
- Submarine tender Jinkei
- No.3 Base Force (Palau)
- No.4 Base Force (Truk)
- No.5 Base Force (Saipan)
- No.6 Base Force (Kwajalein)
- No.24 Air Fleet
- Seaplane tender Kiyokawa maru
- Seaplane tender Goshu maru
- Seaplane tender Kamoi
- Yokohama Air Group
- Chitose Air Group
[edit] Commanders of the IJN 4th Fleet
Commander in chief [2]
| Rank | Name | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Admiral | Baron Dewa Shigeto | 14 Jun 1905 – 20 Dec 1905 |
| X | Disbanded | 20 Dec 1905 – 20 Oct 1937 | |
| 1 | Admiral | Soemu Toyoda | 20 Oct 1937 – 15 Nov 1938 |
| 2 | Vice-Admiral | Masaharu Hibino | 15 Nov 1938 – 15 Nov 1939 |
| 3 | Vice-Admiral | Eikichi Katagiri | 15 Nov 1939 – 15 Nov 1940 |
| 4 | Admiral | Shiro Takasu | 15 Nov 1940 – 11 Aug 1941 |
| 5 | Admiral | Shigeyoshi Inoue | 11 Aug 1941 – 26 Oct 1942 |
| 6 | Vice-Admiral | Baron Tomoshige Samejima | 26 Oct 1942 – 1 Apr 1943 |
| 7 | Vice-Admiral | Masami Kobayashi | 1 Apr 1943 – 19 Feb 1944 |
| 8 | Vice-Admiral | Chuichi Hara | 19 Feb 1944 – 2 Sep 1945 |
Chief of Staff
| Rank | Name | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Admiral | Tanin Yamaya | 14 Jun 1905 – 20 Dec 1905 |
| X | Disbanded | 20 Dec 1905 – 20 Oct 1937 | |
| 1 | Vice-Admiral | Masami Kobayashi | 20 Oct 1937 – 1 Sep 1938 |
| 2 | Vice-Admiral | Arata Oka | 1 Sep 1938 – 15 Nov 1939 |
| 3 | Vice-Admiral | Fukuji Kishi | 15 Nov 1939 – 10 Oct 1941 |
| 4 | Vice-Admiral | Shikazo Yano | 10 Oct 1941 – 1 Nov 1942 |
| 5 | Rear-Admiral | Shunsaku Nabeshima | 1 Nov 1942 – 6 Jan 1944 |
| 6 | Rear-Admiral | Michio Sumikawa | 6 Jan 1944 – 30 Mar 1944 |
| 7 | Vice-Admiral | Kaoru Arima | 30 Mar 1944 – 12 Aug 1944 |
| 8 | Rear-Admiral | Michio Sumikawa | 12 Aug 1944 – 2 Sep 1945 |
[edit] References
[edit] 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.
- Lacroix, Eric; Linton Wells (1997). Japanese Cruisers of the Pacific War. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-311-3.
[edit] External links
- Nishida, Hiroshi. Imperial Japanese Navy. Retrieved on 2007-02-25.
- Wendel. Axis History Database. Retrieved on 2007-08-25.
[edit] Notes
|
|||||
