Hankyu Sasaki (佐々木半九, 1 January 1896 – 6 October 1971) was an

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrend ...

admiral. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

he was force commander of the

midget submarine A midget submarine (also called a mini submarine) is any submarine under 150 tons, typically operated by a crew of one or two but sometimes up to six or nine, with little or no on-board living accommodation. They normally work with mother ships, ...

s that attacked

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the R ...

and Sydney Harbour.

Early career

Sasaki was born in Hiroshima. He attended Hiroshima Prefectural Tertiary High School and then joined Class 45 of the Japanese Naval Academy at

Etajima , also called , ''Nomijima'', ''Nomi Island'', or is an island in Hiroshima Bay located in southwestern Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The mess with island name originates from the ancient (and possibly legendary) strait at now town . Geography Th ...

on 24 November 1917. When he graduated he went to the Naval Torpedo School followed by the Navy diving school. He became a lieutenant in the submarine school, and was then promoted to lieutenant commander. As a commander he served as instructor at the diving school and the torpedo school. He was then assigned to the '' Kamoi,'' the '' Yakumo'', and served as deputy commander in the Navy Air Service. He became the first commander of the 21st Submarine Division. After promotion to captain, he served as commander of the 12th Submarine Division followed by the 7th Submarine Division.

Midget submarines

In July 1941 Sasaki became the commander of the 3rd Submarine Division. Five of the corps midget submarines from I-16, I-18, I-20, I-22 and I-24 attacked Pearl Harbor.Pearl Harbour
retrieved 24 March 2016 Sasaki's next involvement was the attack on Sydney Harbour with midget submarines from the Eastern Attack Group's submarines ''I-22, I-24'' and ''I-27'' in May 1942. They were also accompanied by I-21 and I-28, which had been fitted for reconnaissance aircraft. In October, Sasaki was assigned to Matsumura's '' I-21'' in Sixth Fleet chief of staff, Rear Admiral Hisashi Mito's E-force. Its mission was to locate and sink the damaged US aircraft carrier ''Enterprise'', which had been damaged in the

Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands The Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, fought during 25–27 October 1942, sometimes referred to as the Battle of Santa Cruz or Third Battle of Solomon Sea, in Japan as the Battle of the South Pacific ( ''Minamitaiheiyō kaisen''), was the fourt ...

. The floatplane from ''I-9'' found the ''Enterprise'' in

Nouméa Nouméa () is the capital and largest city of the French special collectivity of New Caledonia and is also the largest francophone city in Oceania. It is situated on a peninsula in the south of New Caledonia's main island, Grande Terre, and ...

harbour and a watch was maintained waiting for the carrier to sail. While waiting '' I-9'', which had the best floatplane was withdrawn by the navy for other duties, which meant that the ''Enterprise'' had sailed by the time the floatplane from ''I-21'' overflew the harbour. E-force had lost its opportunity and Sasaki returned to Truk in November.Torpedo Junction
retrieved 24 March 2016 In January 1943, Sasaki was the submarine school's vice-principal.

Kaiten

Sasaki began development of the 1st Special Attack Corps, a

Kaiten were crewed torpedoes and suicide craft, used by the Imperial Japanese Navy in the final stages of World War II. History In recognition of the unfavorable progress of the war, towards the end of 1943 the Japanese high command considered s ...

squad, in July 1944. Kaiten were officially adopted as a weapon on August 1, 1944. Sasaki and Commander Torisu Kennosuke (鳥巣　建之助) developed the strategy for their training and use, primarily against ships at anchor. Sasaki was promoted to rear admiral in October 1944, and became the Sixth Fleet's chief of staff.

Career

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sasaki, Hankyu 1896 births 1971 deaths People from Hiroshima Japanese military personnel of World War II