| Left to right: Imperial Japanese Navy Rear Admiral Matome Ugaki (February 15, 1890 – August 15, 1945), Combined Fleet Chief of Staff; Imperial Japanese Navy Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto (April 4, 1884 – April 18, 1943), Commanding Officer, Combined Fleet; Commander Shigeru Fujii (1900 – ????), Imperial General Headquarters Liaison Staff Officer; and Commander Yasuji Watanabe (1903 – ????), Administrative Officer. Photographed on the battleship Nagato sometime in 1940. Yamamoto’s appointment, August 30, 1939, coincided with the outbreak of World War II in Europe. Within months, Japan was veering toward a showdown with the United States. The approach of war, together with Yamamoto’s prestige within the navy, gave the Combined Fleet an unprecedented role in strategic planning. The Navy General Staff retained the prerogative of formulating strategy. Still, in practice, war planning after 1940 evolved into a complex interaction of initiatives and compromises between the General Staff in Tokyo and the Combined Fleet, whose commander set up headquarters on the battleship Nagato, which usually rode at anchor at Hashirajima in Hiroshima Bay. Upon assuming command of Japan’s Combined Fleet, Yamamoto gathered about him a dozen officers. Most were in their thirties and forties with the rank of Commander or Captain. These officers were directed by his Chief of Staff, with the rank of rear admiral. 3 successive Chiefs of Staff served Yamamoto before the outbreak of the Pacific War. The 3rd, Matome Ugaki, joined the Combined Fleet on August 11, 1941, and remained with it until the middle of 1943. Ugaki had broad experience in his many assignments. His most important post, from 1938 to 1941, was as head of the 1st Operations Department of the Navy General Staff. This department supervised the 1st Section, responsible for long-term strategic planning. In August 1945, Ugaki led the last flight of Shimpu (“special attack”) raiders, which the Americans called kamikaze. He claimed he was making a direct hit, but no ships were struck that day. Ugaki is believed to have crashed his entire flight into the ocean. In addition to Ugaki, 4 younger staff officers deserve mention for their subsequent contributions to the Hawaii invasion plan. Captain Kameto Kuroshima (October 10, 1893 – October 20, 1965) joined Yamamoto’s staff as Vice Chief of Staff in October 1939. A brilliant, if somewhat eccentric, officer prone to wearing a kimono on duty, Kuroshima had served in the Navy Ministry’s Naval Affairs Bureau and in several squadrons as a staff officer. Captain Yoshitake Miwa (April 26, 1899 – August 2, 1944), Yamamoto’s Chief of Operations, had worked as an assistant naval officer under Yamamoto in Washington from 1926 to 1928. His subsequent career had led through assignments with air units, the War College, and the 1st Section of the Navy General Staff’s 1st Department. He died defending Tinian. Commander Shigeru Fujii had served in the 5th Section (United States) of the General Staff’s 3rd Department (Intelligence). He had traveled extensively in the United States and in Europe. The youngest in this group was Commander Yasuji Watanabe, a logistics expert. Despite his youth, Watanabe came as close to the commander in chief as anyone on the Nagato. Yamamoto and Watanabe regularly played shógi (Japanese chess), a game in which regular opponents can learn much about each other’s approach to strategy. Yamamoto put Watanabe in charge of the staff’s planning section. He survived the war and served in the Japanese Coast Guard. He was a consultant on the 1970 film Tora! Tora! Tora! and played himself in the film. Japanese American Clyde Kusatsu played him in the 1976 movie Midway. Alongside these trends, which collectively raised Hawaii’s profile, there was a functional shift within the Imperial Navy. The initiative for strategic planning started to move from the Navy General Staff to the Combined Fleet. The timing of this shift is difficult to pinpoint, but the appointment of Yamamoto to command the Combined Fleet helped set forces in motion. | |
| Image Filename | wwii1563.jpg |
| Image Size | 799 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 3000 x 2165 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | Imperial Japanese Navy |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | January 1, 1940 |
| Location | |
| City | Kure |
| State or Province | Hiroshima |
| Country | Japan |
| Archive | Reluctant Admiral |
| Record Number | Page 207 |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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