Combined Fleet

History

Sino-Japanese War (1894–95)

The Combined Fleet was formally created for the first time on 18 July 1894 by the merger of the Standing Fleet and the Western Fleet. The Standing Fleet (also known as the Readiness Fleet) contained the navy's most modern and combat-capable warships. The Western Fleet was a reserve force consisting primarily of obsolete ships deemed unsuitable for front-line combat operations, but still suitable for commerce protection and coastal defense. Vice-admiral Itō Sukeyuki was appointed the first Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet for the duration of the first Sino-Japanese War against China.

Russo-Japanese War (1904–05)

The Combined Fleet was re-formed during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05 to provide a unified overall command for the three separate fleets in the Imperial Japanese Navy. The 1st Fleet was the main battleship force, which formed the backbone of the navy and was intended to be used in a traditional line of battle showdown with an equivalent enemy battleship fleet (Kantai Kessen). The 2nd Fleet was a fast, mobile strike force with armored cruisers and protected cruisers. The 3rd Fleet was primarily a reserve fleet of obsolete vessels considered too weak for front-line combat service, but which could still be used in the operation to blockade Port Arthur. Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō was commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet during the Russo-Japanese War.

Interwar years

The Combined Fleet was not maintained as a permanent organization, but was temporarily created when necessary during fleet maneuvers or when called for by extraordinary circumstances. Thus, during the period from 1905 to 1924, the Combined Fleet was created only sporadically as the occasion or circumstances dictated, and disbanded immediately afterwards.

In 1924, the Imperial Japanese Navy declared in an edict on fleet organization that "for the time being" the Combined Fleet would be a standing organization consisting of the IJN 1st Fleet and IJN 2nd Fleet. As this was not intended to be "permanent" and since the commander of IJN 1st Fleet concurrently directed the Combined Fleet, the Combined Fleet was not given a Headquarters staff of its own.

From 1933, with the Mukden Incident and the increasing tension with China, a permanent HQ staff for the Combined Fleet was established. By the late 1930s, it included most of Japan's warships—only the base units, the Special Naval Landing Forces, and the China Area Fleet lay outside the Combined Fleet.

World War II

The Combined Fleet came under direct command of the Imperial General Headquarters in 1937. With the start of the Pacific War with the attack on Pearl Harbor carried out by Combined Fleet's Kido Butai (1st Air Fleet), the Combined Fleet became almost synonymous with the Imperial Japanese Navy, under the command of admiral Isoroku Yamamoto till April 1943 when he died after his plane was shot-down by US Army Air Forces over Bougainville Island. It comprised the battleships, aircraft carriers, aircraft, and the components that made up the main fighting strength of the IJN. It was first mobilized on the whole for the Battle of Midway. After the devastating carrier losses at Midway and in the Solomon Islands campaign, the navy re-organized into a number of "Area Fleets" for local operational control of various geographic zones. The Combined Fleet then evolved into more of an administrative organization.

As the war situation deteriorated for the Japanese and the territories controlled by the "Area Fleets" fell one after another to the United States Navy, the Imperial General Headquarters and the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff acted to force the American fleet into a "decisive battle" in the Philippines per the Kantai Kessen philosophy. In the resultant Battle of the Philippine Sea and the Battle of Leyte Gulf the Japanese fleet was severely depleted. The remnants of the Combined Fleet fled to Okinawa, but further operations were hindered by lack of fuel and air cover. By the time of the final suicide mission of the battleship Yamato in Operation Ten-Go, the Combined Fleet had ceased to exist as an effective combat force.

Commander-in-Chief (司令長官, ''Shireichōkan'')

伊藤祐亨 有地品之允 (when appointed) Admiral (from 6 June 1904) 東郷平八郎 伊集院五郎 吉松茂太郎 吉松茂太郎 吉松茂太郎 山下源太郎 山下源太郎 山屋他人 栃内曽次郎 栃内曽次郎 (when appointed) Admiral (from 3 August 1923) 竹下勇 鈴木貫太郎 岡田啓介 (when appointed) Admiral (from 1 April 1927) 加藤寛治 谷口尚真 (when appointed) Admiral (from 1 March 1931) 山本英輔 (when appointed) Admiral (from 1 April 1933) 小林躋造 (when appointed) Admiral (from 30 March 1934) 末次信正 (when appointed) Admiral (from 1 April 1936) 高橋三吉 米内光政 永野修身 吉田善吾 (when appointed) Admiral (from 15 November 1940) 山本五十六 古賀峯一 豊田副武 小沢治三郎

Timeline

ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:12 PlotArea = top:10 bottom:50 right:100 left:20 AlignBars = late

DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1894 till:01/01/1946 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:1895 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:1894

BarData = barset:PM

PlotData = width:5 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till barset:PM

from: 18/07/1894 till: 11/05/1895 color:darkblue text:"Itō Sukeyuki" from: 11/05/1895 till: 16/11/1895 color:darkblue text:"Arichi Shinanojō" from: 28/12/1903 till: 20/12/1905 color:darkblue text:"Tōgō Heihachirō" from: 08/10/1908 till: 20/11/1908 color:darkblue text:"Ijūin Gorō" from: 01/11/1915 till: 13/12/1915 color:darkblue text:"Yoshimatsu Shigetarō" from: 01/09/1916 till: 14/10/1916 color:darkblue text:"Yoshimatsu Shigetarō" from: 01/10/1917 till: 22/10/1917 color:darkblue text:"Yoshimatsu Shigetarō" from: 01/09/1918 till: 15/10/1918 color:darkblue text:"Yamashita Gentarō" from: 01/06/1919 till: 28/10/1919 color:darkblue text:"Yamashita Gentarō" from: 01/05/1920 till: 24/08/1920 color:darkblue text:"Yamaya Tanin" from: 24/08/1920 till: 31/10/1920 color:darkblue text:"Tochinai Sojirō" from: 01/05/1921 till: 31/10/1921 color:darkblue text:"Tochinai Sojirō" from: 01/12/1922 till: 27/01/1924 color:darkblue text:"Takeshita Isamu" from: 27/01/1924 till: 01/12/1924 color:darkblue text:"Kantarō Suzuki" from: 01/12/1924 till: 10/12/1926 color:darkblue text:"Okada Keisuke" from: 10/12/1926 till: 10/12/1928 color:darkblue text:"Katō Hiroharu" from: 10/12/1928 till: 11/11/1929 color:darkblue text:"Taniguchi Naomi" from: 11/11/1929 till: 01/12/1931 color:darkblue text:"Yamamoto Eisuke" from: 01/12/1931 till: 15/11/1933 color:darkblue text:"Kobayashi Seizō" from: 15/11/1933 till: 15/11/1934 color:darkblue text:"Suetsugu Nobumasa" from: 15/11/1934 till: 01/12/1936 color:darkblue text:"Takahashi Sankichi" from: 01/12/1936 till: 02/02/1937 color:darkblue text:"Yonai Mitsumasa" from: 02/02/1937 till: 01/12/1937 color:darkblue text:"Nagano Osami" from: 01/12/1937 till: 30/08/1939 color:darkblue text:"Yoshida Zengo" from: 30/08/1939 till: 18/04/1943 color:darkblue text:"Yamamoto Isoroku" from: 21/05/1943 till: 31/03/1944 color:darkblue text:"Koga Mine'ichi" from: 03/05/1944 till: 29/05/1945 color:darkblue text:"Toyoda Soemu" from: 29/05/1945 till: 10/10/1945 color:darkblue text:"Ozawa Jisaburō"

Chief of Staff (参謀長, ''Sanbōchō'')

鮫島員規 出羽重遠 上村彦之丞 島村速雄 加藤友三郎 山下源太郎 山中柴吉 堀内三郎 堀内三郎 斎藤半六 舟越楫四郎 吉岡範策 吉岡範策 白根熊三 樺山可也 (when appointed) Rear Admiral (from 1 December 1924) 原敢二郎 大湊直太郎 高橋三吉 濱野英次郎 寺島健 塩沢幸一 嶋田繁太郎 吉田善吾 豊田副武 近藤信竹 野村直邦 岩下保太郎 小沢治三郎 高橋伊望 福留繁 伊藤整一 (when appointed) Vice Admiral (from 1 November 1942) 宇垣纏 福留繁 (when appointed) Vice Admiral (from 1 May 1944) 草鹿龍之介 矢野志加三

Vice Chief of Staff (参謀副長, ''Sanbō fukuchō'')

小林謙五 (when appointed) Rear Admiral (from 15 October 1944) 高田利種 矢野志加三 松原博 菊池朝三

Footnotes

References

Notes

Books

• {{cite book
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References

1. [http://navalhistory.flixco.info/H/169879x82985/8330/a0.htm/''Combined Fleet'']