Imperial Japanese Navy order of battle 1941
Order of battle
Warships
IJN at time of Pearl Harbor Attack in December 1941:
Battleships
- 10 (plus 3 building) (1)
- 4 Kongō class — converted from battlecruisers. Built in 1913-1915.
- 2 Fusō class — built 1915-1917
- 2 Ise class — built 1917-1918
- 2 Nagato class — built 1920-1921
(1) 4 Yamato class (3 building (1 Shinano converted to an aircraft carrier) and 1 cancelled later in 1941).
Hull Number 111 was scrapped in 1943 when only 30% complete, and a proposed fifth hull, Number 797, proposed in the 1942 5th Supplementary Program, was never ordered.
Aircraft carriers
- 6 heavy and 6 light (plus 7 building )(1)
- Hōshō built in 1922
- Akagi (2) (ex-battlecruiser converted by 1927) — †1942
- Kaga (ex-battleship converted in 1928) — †1942
- Ryūjō completed 1933 — †1942
- Sōryū — †1942
- Hiryū — †1942
- 2 Zuihō class commissioned as aircraft carriers 1940-1941
- Shōhō - †1942
- Zuihō - †1944
- 2 Shōkaku class built 1941
- 3 Taiyō class
- 2 Hiyō class
- Shinano (ex-battleship converted in 1942-44) — †1944
- (1) Does not include Imperial Japanese Army built aircraft transports.
- (2) Amagi — sister ship to Akagi both as a battlecruiser and as a conversion to an aircraft carrier, was destroyed during construction by an earthquake and replaced with the Kaga.
Heavy cruisers
- 18 (plus 1 building) (1)
(1) Ibuki ordered but not laid down (2) Mogamis designated light cruisers but were built to be up-gunned as heavies once the London Naval Treaty was broken.
Light cruisers
- 20 (plus 5 building) (1)
(1) 4 Agano and 2 Ōyodo (1 cancelled).
Destroyers
- 126 (plus 43 building) (1)
- 3 Momi-class destroyer (2) built 1920-1922
- 13 Minekaze-class destroyer built 1920-1922
- 7 Wakatake-class destroyer built 1922-1923
- 4 Kamikaze-class destroyer built 1922-1924
- 12 Mutsuki-class destroyer built 1925-1927
- 20 Fubuki-class destroyer built 1926-1933
- 4 Akatsuki-class destroyer built 1932-1933
- 6 Hatsuharu-class destroyer built 1933-1935
- 10 Shiratsuyu-class destroyer built 1936-1937
- 10 Asashio-class destroyer built 1937-1938
- 18 Kagerō-class destroyer built 1939
- 19 Yūgumo-class destroyer built 1941
(1) 27 Yūgumo class and 16 Akatsuki class building (2) Others of class re-rated as patrol vessels (3) 2 others of class converted to patrol vessels
Submarines
- 68 Fleet submarines
- 50 Ko-hyoteki-class midget submarines
Others
- 90 patrol ships, gunboats, armed merchant ships, and submarine chasers
- 6 minelayers
- 42 minesweepers
- 55 auxiliaries
Merchant Ships
Many under direct navy control as armed merchantmen.
- 1939 - 2,337 with 5,629,845 tons
- World War II construction of 4,250,000 tons
- 2,346 sunk
Aircraft
- Total 1750 first line with 370 trainers
- 660 Fighters
- 330 Carrier based strike aircraft
- 240 Land-based twin engine bombers
- 520 Seaplanes and flying boats.
Commanders
Imperial Japanese Navy commanders at the time of the Attack on Pearl Harbor:
-
Admiral Osami Nagano (Chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff)
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Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto (Commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet)
-
Rear Admiral Matome Ugaki (Chief-of-Staff of the Combined Fleet)
-
Vice Admiral Chūichi Nagumo (Commander-in-Chief of the First Air Fleet)
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Vice Admiral Nobutake Kondō (2nd Fleet)
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Vice Admiral Ibō Takahashi (3rd Fleet)
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Vice Admiral Inoue Shigeyoshi (4th Fleet)