Maizuru Naval District

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Maizuru Naval District (舞鶴鎮守府, Maizuru chinjufu^?) was one of four main administrative districts of the pre-war Imperial Japanese Navy. Its territory included the entire Sea of Japan coastline from northern Kyūshū to western Hokkaidō.

Emperor Hirohito visits Maizuru Naval District HQ, 1933

1 History
2 List of Commanders
- 2.1 Commanding Officers
- 2.2 Chief of Staff
3 References
4 External links

[edit] History

The strategic importance of the location of Maizuru and its potential for development into a military port for operations in the Sea of Japan towards Korea, Russia and even China was early recognized by the Imperial Japanese Navy. During the administrative re-organization of the Navy in 1889, Maizuru was designated as the “Fourth Naval District”, and its harbor was dredged, a breakwater constructed and docking facilities for warships were established.

With the First Sino-Japanese War, the port was fortified with the addition of heavy coastal artillery. However, the naval bases at Sasebo and Kure were geographically more convenient for the Navy during the war, and received the bulk of the Navy's attention and funding. Although naval repair facilities and shipyards Maizuru Naval Arsenal were opened in 1903, the mountainous terrain around Maizuru port proved an impediment to expansion, and the area languished as somewhat of a backwater. This continued even through the Russo-Japanese War, despite Maizuru's more convenient location to the center of that conflict. In the post-war period, with Korea in Japanese hands, and the threats from Russia and China very much diminished, there were discussions about closing the military port. Although Maizuru was one of the largest military shipyards in Japan (specializing in destroyer construction), the Washington Naval Treaty of 1923 also considerably reduced the demand for warship construction, and its facilities were largely mothballed until 1936.

With the Pacific War, Maizuru was reactivated as a recruiting, training, and logistical support district. It was also a base for one of the Japan's Special Naval Landing Forces, and a Naval Air Station. Maizuru was also the location of the Imperial Japanese Navy Engineering Academy.

The area today is occupied in part by facilities of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force, which has preserved a portion of the original red brick gates and couple of buildings as commemorative museums.

[edit] List of Commanders

[edit] Commanding Officers

Fleet Admiral Marquis Heihachiro Togo (1 Oct 1901 - 19 Oct 1903)
Admiral Baron Sonojo Hidaka (19 Oct 1903 - 28 Aug 1908)
Admiral Shichiro Kataoka (28 Aug 1908 - 18 Jan 1911)
Admiral Baron Sotaro Misu (18 Jan 1911 - 25 Sep 1913)
Admiral Baron Rokuro Yashiro (25 Sep 1913 - 17 Apr 1914)
Vice-Admiral Hajime Sakamoto (17 Apr 1914 - 13 Dec 1915)
Admiral Matahachiro Nawa (13 Dec 1915 - 1 Dec 1917)
Admiral Takeshi Takarabe (1 Dec 1917 - 1 Dec 1918)
Admiral Kaneo Nomaguchi (1 Dec 1918 - 1 Dec 1919)
Admiral Teijro Kuroi (1 Dec 1919 - 16 Aug 1920)
Vice-Admiral Tetsutaro Sato (16 Aug 1920 - 1 Dec 1921)
Admiral Kozaburo Oguri (1 Dec 1921 - 1 Apr 1923)
Vice-Admiral Hanroku Saito (1 Apr 1923 - 1 Jun 1923)
Admiral Saburo Hyakutake (1 Jun 1923 - 4 Oct 1924)
Vice-Admiral Shigetsugu Nakazato (4 Oct 1924 - 1 Jun 1925)
Vice-Admiral Shinzaburo Furukawa (1 Jun 1925 - 10 Dec 1926)
Vice-Admiral Koshiro Otani (10 Dec 1926 - 16 May 1928)
Vice-Admiral Nobutaro Iida (16 May 1928 - 10 Dec 1928)
Vice-Admiral Tamaki Tosu (10 Dec 1928 - 11 Nov 1929)
Vice-Admiral Junichi Kiyokawa (11 Nov 1929 - 1 Dec 1930)
Admiral Nobumasa Suetsugu (1 Dec 1930 - 1 Dec 1931)
Vice-Admiral Naotaro Ominato (1 Dec 1931 - 1 Dec 1932)
Vice-Admiral Shinjiro Imamura (1 Dec 1932 - 15 Sep 1933)
Admiral Gengo Hyakutake (15 Sep 1933 - 15 Nov 1934)
Vice-Admiral Hajime Matsushita (15 Nov 1934 - 2 Dec 1935)
Admiral Koichi Shiozawa (2 Dec 1935 - 1 Dec 1936)
Vice-Admiral Kamezaburo Nakamura (1 Dec 1936 - 1 Dec 1937)
Vice-Admiral Manbei Idemitsu (1 Dec 1937 - 15 Nov 1938)
Vice-Admiral Eikichi Katagiri (15 Nov 1938 - 15 Nov 1939)
Vice-Admiral Goro Hara (15 Nov 1939 - 15 Apr 1940)
Vice-Admiral Sonosuke Kobayashi (15 Apr 1940 - 14 Jul 1942)
Vice-Admiral Masaichi Niimi (14 Jul 1942 - 1 Dec 1943)
Vice-Admiral Denshichi Okawachi (1 Dec 1943 - 1 Apr 1944)
Vice-Admiral Kakusaburo Makita (1 Apr 1944 - 1 Mar 1945)
Vice-Admiral Minoru Tayui (1 Mar 1945 - 30 Nov 1945)

[edit] Chief of Staff

Vice-Admiral Baron Tokutaro Nakamizo (1 Oct 1901 - 12 Mar 1902)
Rear-Admiral Ichiro Nijima (12 Mar 1902 - 10 May 1905)
Rear-Admiral Shinjiro Uehara (10 May 1905 - 7 Apr 1906)
Rear-Admiral Arinobu Matsumoto (7 Apr 1906 - 22 Nov 1906)
Vice-Admiral Suetaka Ijichi (22 Nov 1906 - 15 May 1908)
Admiral Baron Sadakichi Kato (15 May 1908 - 9 Apr 1910)
Vice-Admiral Kensuke Wada (9 Apr 1910 - 1 Dec 1911)
Rear-Admiral Juzaburo Ushida (1 Dec 1911 - 1 Dec 1912)
Rear-Admiral Seinosuke Togo (1 Dec 1912 - 1 Apr 1913)
Vice-Admiral Tomojiro Chisaka (1 Apr 1913 - 1 Dec 1913)
Vice-Admiral Yasujiro Nagata (1 Dec 1913 - 1 Dec 1914)
Rear-Admiral Eitaro Kataoka (1 Dec 1914 - 1 Apr 1915)
Rear-Admiral Tokutaro Hiraga (1 Apr 1915 - 1 Apr 1916)
Rear-Admiral Yushichi Kanno (1 Apr 1916 - 1 Dec 1917)
Rear-Admiral Masaki Nakamura (1 Dec 1917 - 25 Sep 1918
Vice-Admiral Kenzo Kobayashi (25 Sep 1918 - 10 Nov 1918)
Rear-Admiral Hisamori Taguchi (10 Nov 1918 - 10 Nov 1920)
Vice-Admiral Kosaburo Uchida (10 Nov 1920 - 1 Dec 1922)
Vice-Admiral Yukichi Shima (1 Dec 1922 - 1 Dec 1923)
Rear-Admiral Tanin Ikeda (1 Dec 1923 - 1 Dec 1924)
Admiral Zengo Yoshida (1 Dec 1924 - 15 Apr 1925)
Vice-Admiral Shigeru Matsuyama (20 Nov 1925 - 1 Dec 1926)
Rear-Admiral Shiba Shibayama (1 Dec 1926 - 10 Dec 1928)
Vice-Admiral Yutaka Arima (10 Dec 1928 - 1 May 1929)
Vice-Admiral Shigeru Kokuno (1 May 1929 - 1 Nov 1930)
Vice-Admiral Umataro Tanimoto (1 Nov 1930 - 1 Dec 1931)
Rear-Admiral Fuchina Iwaihara (1 Dec 1931 - 15 Nov 1933)
Rear-Admiral Shigekazu Nakamura (15 Nov 1933 - 16 Nov 1936)
Vice-Admiral Ichiro Ono (16 Nov 1936 - 25 Sep 1937)
Vice-Admiral Kanji Ugaki (25 Sep 1937 - 22 Oct 1938)
Vice-Admiral Morikazu Osugi (22 Oct 1938 - 15 Nov 1939)
Vice-Admiral Kiyohide Shima (15 Nov 1939 - 15 Oct 1940)
Vice-Admiral Naomasa Sakonjo (15 Oct 1940 - 11 Aug 1941)
Rear-Admiral Kiyoshi Hamada (11 Aug 1941 - 10 Jun 1942)
Rear-Admiral Sokichi Takagi (10 Jun 1942 - 25 Sep 1943)
Rear-Admiral Akira Sone (25 Sep 1943 - 11 Sep 1944)
Rear-Admiral Shinichi Torigoe (25 Sep 1944 - Sep 1945)

[edit] References

Prados, John (1995). Combined Fleet Decoded: The Secret History of American Intelligence and the Japanese Navy in World War II. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-460-02474-4.