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Maizuru Naval District

Maizuru Naval District

Maizuru Naval District 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

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 recognized early by the Imperial Japanese Navy. During the administrative re-organization of the navy in 1889, Maizuru was designated as the headquarters of the Fourth Naval District (第四海軍区, dai-yon kaigunku), and its harbor was dredged, a breakwater constructed and docking facilities for warships 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 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 a couple of buildings as commemorative museums.

List of commanders

Commanding Officers

No.NamePortraitRankTerm of OfficeStartEnd1234567891011121314151617181920212223242526272829303132333435
Tōgō Heihachirō[[File:Tōgō Heihachirō.jpg60px]]Vice Admiral1 October 190119 October 1903
Hidaka Sōnojō[[File:Sonojo Hidaka 01.jpg60px]]Vice Admiral19 October 190328 August 1908
Kataoka Shichirō[[File:Kataoka Shichiro.jpg60px]]Vice Admiral28 August 190818 January 1911
Misu Sotarō[[File:Misu Sotaro.jpg60px]]Vice Admiral18 January 191125 September 1913
Yashiro Rokurō[[File:Vice Adm. Rokuro Yashiro.jpg60px]]Vice Admiral25 September 191317 April 1914
Sakamoto Hajime[[File:Sakamoto Hajime.jpg60px]]Vice Admiral17 April 191413 December 1915
Nawa Matahachirō[[File:Nawa_Matahachirou.jpg60px]]Vice Admiral13 December 19151 December 1917
Takarabe Takeshi[[File:Takeshi Takarabe.jpg60px]]Vice Admiral1 December 19171 December 1918
Nomaguchi Kaneo[[File:Nomaguchi.jpg60px]]Vice Admiral1 December 19181 December 1919
Kuroi TeijirōVice Admiral1 December 191916 August 1920
Satō Tetsutarō[[File:Sato Tetsutaro.jpg60px]]Vice Admiral16 August 19201 December 1921
Oguri Kozaburō[[File:Kouzaburou Oguri.jpg60px]]Vice Admiral1 December 19211 April 1923
Saitō Hanroku[[File:HanrokuSaito.jpg60px]]Vice Admiral1 April 19231 June 1923
Hyakutake Saburō[[File:Saburō Hyakutake.jpg60px]]Vice Admiral1 June 19234 October 1924
Nakazato Shigeji[[File:Nakazato Shigeji.jpg60px]]Vice Admiral4 October 19241 June 1925
Furukawa Shinzaburō[[File:Shinzaburou Furukawa.jpg60px]]Vice Admiral1 June 192510 December 1926
Ōtani KoshirōVice Admiral10 December 192616 May 1928
Iida Nobutarō[[File:Nobutaro Iida.jpg60px]]Vice Admiral16 May 192810 December 1928
Tosu TamakiVice Admiral10 December 192811 November 1929
Kiyokawa JunichiVice Admiral11 November 19291 December 1930
Suetsugu Nobumasa[[File:Suetsugu Nobumasa.jpg60px]]Vice Admiral1 December 19301 December 1931
Ōminato Naotarō[[File:Oominato Naotaro.jpg60px]]Vice Admiral1 December 19311 December 1932
Imamura Nobujirō[[File:Imamura Nobujiro.jpg60px]]Vice Admiral1 December 193215 September 1933
Hyakutake Gengo[[File:Hyakutake Gengo.JPG60px]]Vice Admiral15 September 193315 November 1934
Matsushita Hajime[[File:Hajime Matsushita.jpg60px]]Vice Admiral15 November 19342 December 1935
Shiozawa Kōichi[[File:Shiozawa_kōichi.JPG60px]]Vice Admiral2 December 19351 December 1936
Nakamura Kamezaburō[[File:Nakamura kamesaburō.JPG60px]]Vice Admiral1 December 19361 December 1937
Idemitsu Manbee[[File:Manbe Idemitsu.jpg60px]]Vice Admiral1 December 193715 November 1938
Katagiri Eikichi[[File:Katagiri Eikichi.jpg60px]]Vice Admiral15 November 193815 November 1939
Hara Gorō[[File:Goro Hara.jpg60px]]Vice Admiral15 November 193815 April 1940
Kobayashi Sōnosuke[[File:Sounosuke Kobayashi.jpg60px]]Vice Admiral15 April 194014 July 1942
Niimi Masaichi[[File: Niimi Masaichi.jpg60px]]Vice Admiral14 July 19421 December 1943
Ōkawachi Denshichi[[File:Ookouchi Captain.jpg60px]]Vice Admiral1 December 19431 April 1944
Makita Kakusaburō[[File:Kakusaburo Makita.jpg60px]]Vice Admiral1 April 19441 March 1945
Tayui Minoru[[File:Admiral Minoru Tayui.jpeg60px]]Vice Admiral1 March 194530 November 1945

Chief of Staff

  • Vice-Admiral Baron Tokutarō Nakamizo (1 October 1901 – 12 March 1902)
  • Rear-Admiral Ichirō Nijima (12 March 1902 – 10 May 1905)
  • Rear-Admiral Shinjirō Uehara (10 May 1905 – 7 April 1906)
  • Rear-Admiral Arinobu Matsumoto (7 April 1906 – 22 November 1906)
  • Vice-Admiral Suetaka Ijichi (22 November 1906 – 15 May 1908)
  • Admiral Baron Sadakichi Katō (15 May 1908 – 9 April 1910)
  • Vice-Admiral Kensuke Wada (9 April 1910 – 1 December 1911)
  • Rear-Admiral Juzaburo Ushida (1 December 1911 – 1 December 1912)
  • Rear-Admiral Seinosuke Tōgō (1 December 1912 – 1 April 1913)
  • Vice-Admiral Tomojirō Chisaka (1 April 1913 – 1 December 1913)
  • Vice-Admiral Yasujirō Nagata (1 December 1913 – 1 December 1914)
  • Rear-Admiral Eitarō Kataoka (1 December 1914 – 1 April 1915)
  • Rear-Admiral Tokutarō Hiraga (1 April 1915 – 1 April 1916)
  • Rear-Admiral Yushichi Kanno (1 April 1916 – 1 December 1917)
  • Rear-Admiral Masaki Nakamura (1 December 1917 – 25 September 1918)
  • Vice-Admiral Kenzo Kobayashi (25 September 1918 – 10 November 1918)
  • Rear-Admiral Hisamori Taguchi (10 November 1918 – 10 November 1920)
  • Vice-Admiral Kosaburō Uchida (10 November 1920 – 1 December 1922)
  • Vice-Admiral Yukichi Shima (1 December 1922 – 1 December 1923)
  • Rear-Admiral Tanin Ikeda (1 December 1923 – 1 December 1924)
  • Admiral Zengo Yoshida (1 December 1924 – 15 April 1925)
  • Vice-Admiral Shigeru Matsuyama (20 November 1925 – 1 December 1926)
  • Rear-Admiral Shiba Shibayama (1 December 1926 – 10 December 1928)
  • Vice-Admiral Yutaka Arima (10 December 1928 – 1 May 1929)
  • Vice-Admiral Shigeru Kokuno (1 May 1929 – 1 November 1930)
  • Vice-Admiral Umatarō Tanimoto (1 November 1930 – 1 December 1931)
  • Rear-Admiral Fuchina Iwaihara (1 December 1931 – 15 November 1933)
  • Rear-Admiral Shigekazu Nakamura (15 November 1933 – 16 November 1936)
  • Vice-Admiral Ichirō Ono (16 November 1936 – 25 September 1937)
  • Vice-Admiral Kanji Ugaki (25 September 1937 – 22 October 1938)
  • Vice-Admiral Morikazu Osugi (22 October 1938 – 15 November 1939)
  • Vice-Admiral Kiyohide Shima (15 November 1939 – 15 October 1940)
  • Vice-Admiral Naomasa Sakonjō (15 October 1940 – 11 August 1941)
  • Rear-Admiral Kiyoshi Hamada (11 August 1941 – 10 June 1942)
  • Rear-Admiral Sokichi Takagi (10 June 1942 – 25 September 1943)
  • Rear-Admiral Akira Sone (25 September 1943 – 11 September 1944)
  • Rear-Admiral Shinichi Torigoe (25 September 1944 – Sep 1945)

References

  • {{cite book
Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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