IMPERIAL JAPANESE NAVY GENERAL STAFF

The was the highest organ within the Imperial Japanese Navy. In charge of planning and operations, it was headed by an Admiral headquartered in Tokyo.

Contents
History
Organization
Chiefs of the Naval General Staff
Notes
References
Books
External links

History


Created in 1893, the Navy General Staff took over operational (as opposed to administrative) authority over the Imperial Japanese Navy from the Navy Ministry. It was responsible for the planning and execution of national defense strategy, and reported directly to the Emperor, and not to the Prime Minister, Diet of Japan or even the Navy Ministry. It was always headed by an admiral on active duty, and was based in Tokyo.
"The ministry was responsible for the naval budget, ship construction, weapons procurement, personnel, relations with the Diet and the cabinet and broad matters of naval policy. The General Staff directed the operations of the fleet and the preparation of war plans" [1].
After the Washington Naval Conference of 1921-22, where Japan agreed to keeping the size of its fleet smaller than that of the United Kingdom and the United States, the Imperial Japanese Navy became divided into mutually hostile into Fleet Faction and Treaty Faction political cliques. The Navy Ministry tended to be pro-Treaty Faction and was anxious to maintain the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. However the Navy General Staff came to be dominated by the Fleet faction, and gradually gained ascendancy in the 1930s with increasing Japanese militarism.The Navy General Staff pushed through the attack on Pearl Harbor against the wishes of the more diplomatic Navy Ministry.
After 1937, both the Navy Minister and the Chief of the Navy General Staff were members of the Imperial General Headquarters.
With the defeat of the Empire of Japan in World War II, the Navy General Staff was abolished together with the Imperial Japanese Navy by the American occupation authorities in November 1945 and was not revived by the post-war Constitution of Japan.

Organization


The General Staff was organized as follows:

★ 1st Section: Operations Bureau

★ 2nd Section: Weapons and Mobilization Bureau

★ 3rd Section: Intelligence Bureau

★ 4th Section: Communications Bureau

Chiefs of the Naval General Staff


Date Rank Name Notes
1Mar 8 1889 Rear AdmiralIto Toshiyoshi
2May 17 1889 Rear AdmiralArichi Shinanojo
3Jun 17 1891 Rear AdmiralInoue Yoshika
4Dec 12 1892 Vice AdmiralNakamuta Kuranosuke
5Jul 18 1894 Vice AdmiralKabayama SukenoriAdmiral from May 10 1895
6May 11 1895 Vice Admiral Ito SukeyukiAdmiral from Sep 28 1898
7Dec 20 1905 AdmiralTÅgÅ HeihachirÅ
8Dec 1 1909 Vice AdmiralIjuin GorÅAdmiral from Dec 1 1910
9Apr 22 1914 Vice AdmiralShimamura HayaoAdmiral from Aug 28 1915
10Dec 1 1920 AdmiralYamashita GentarÅ
11Apr 15 1925 AdmiralSuzuki KantarÅ
12Jan 22 1929 AdmiralKato Hiroharu
13Jun 11 1930 Vice AdmiralTaniguchi NaomiAdmiral from May 10 1895
14Feb 2 1932 Admiral Prince Fushimi Hiroyasu Fleet Admiral from May 27 1932
15Apr 9 1941 AdmiralNagano OsamiFleet Admiral from June 21 1943
16Feb 21 1944 AdmiralShimada ShigetarÅ
17Aug 2 1944 AdmiralOikawa KoshirÅ
18May 29 1945 AdmiralToyoda Soemu
Oct 15 1945 Office abolished

Notes


1. Spector


References


Books


From Mahan to Pearl Harbor: The Imperial Japanese Navy and the United States, , Sadao, Asada, US Naval Institute Press, 2006, ISBN 1557500428

Making Waves: Politics, Propaganda, And The Emergence Of The Imperial Japanese Navy, 1868-1922, , J. Charles, Schencking, Stanford University Press, 2005, ISBN 0804749779

Eagle Against the Sun, , Ronald, Spector, Vintage Books, 1985, ISBN 0394741013
External links


★ "Foreign Office Files for Japan and the Far East". Adam Matthew Publications. Accessed 2 March 2005.

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