Seiichi Itō
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Seiichi Itō | |
|---|---|
| 26 July 1890 - 7 April 1945[1] | |
 Admiral Itō Seiichi |
|
| Place of birth | Miyama, Fukuoka, Japan |
| Place of death | north of Okinawa |
| Allegiance | Empire of Japan |
| Service/branch |  Imperial Japanese Navy |
| Years of service | 1911 -1945 |
| Rank | Vice Admiral |
| Commands held | Kiso,Mōgami,Atago,Haruna CruDiv7 Chief of Staff, Combined Feet IJN 2nd Fleet |
| Battles/wars | World War II Battle of the East China Sea |
- In this Japanese name, the family name is Itō .
Seiichi Itō (伊藤 整一 Itō Seiichi ?, 26 July 1890 - 7 April 1945) was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy and commander of the battleship Yamato on its final mission towards the end of World War II.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
[edit] Early career
Born in Miike County Takada Town (present day Miyama City, Fukuoka Prefecture, Itō graduated from the 39th class of the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy in 1911. He was 15th in a class of 148 cadets, and served as midshipman on the Aso and Aki.
His rise through the ranks was regular and rapid: ensign on 1 December 1912, sub-lieutenant on 1 December 1914, and lieutenant on 1 December 1917.
Itō returned to the Naval War College (Japan) in 1923, graduating from the 21st class as a lieutenant commander. Itō visited the United States from May-December 1927, and was promoted to commander on his return. He became captain on 1 December 1931 and was assigned as naval attache to Manchukuo from March 1932 to November 1933. Along with Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, Itō, well aware of the disparity and resources and industrial strength between the United States and Japan, was an outspoken proponent of maintaining good relations with the United States.
[edit] Later career
In November 1933, Itō was given his first command: the cruiser Kiso. On November 1935, he was re-assigned to command the Mōgami and in April 1936, the Atago. In December 1936, Itō was assigned command of the battleship Haruna.
On 15 November 1938 Itō became a rear admiral and was appointed Chief of Staff to the IJN 2nd Fleet. The following year, he was named chief of the Navy Ministry's Personnel Bureau. After serving for two years, Itō commanded Cruiser Division 8 (CruDiv 8) in November 1940 until his appointment as Chief of Staff of the Combined Fleet in April 1941.
In September of that year, Itō became Vice Chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff and was promoted to vice admiral a month later on 15 October 1941.
Itō 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 battleship Yamato on its final sortie accompanied by one light cruiser and eight destroyers in an attempt to destroy US naval forces near Okinawa. Itō was killed in the resulting Battle of the East China Sea when Yamato was sunk by US carrier aircraft on 7 April 1945. [2]
Itō was posthumously promoted to full admiral.
[edit] References
[edit] Books
- Feifer, George (2001). "Operation Heaven Number One", The Battle of Okinawa: The Blood and the Bomb. The Lyons Press. ISBN 1-58574-215-5.
- Hara, Tameichi (1961). "The Last Sortie", Japanese Destroyer Captain. New York & Toronto: Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-27894-1. — First-hand account of the battle by the captain of the Japanese cruiser Yahagi.
- O’Connor, Raymond (1969). The Japanese Navy in World War II. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. — Anthology of articles by former officers of the Imperial Japanese Navy and Air Defense Force
- Spurr, Russell (1995). A Glorious Way to Die: The Kamikaze Mission of the Battleship Yamato, April 1945. Newmarket Press. ISBN 1-55704-248-9.
- Yoshida, Mitsuru; Richard H. Minear (1999). Requiem for Battleship Yamato. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-544-6. — A first-hand account of the battle by Yamato's only surviving bridge officer.
[edit] External links
- Nishida, Hiroshi. Materials of IJN: Ito, Seiichi. Imperial Japanese Navy. Retrieved on 2007-08-03.
[edit] Notes
|
|||||
