was a
Rear Admiral
Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...
in the
Imperial Japanese Navy during
World War II.
Biography
Komura was born in
Nakanojo,
Gunma prefecture. He graduated from the 45th class of the
Imperial Japanese Naval Academy in 1917, ranked 10th in his class of 89 cadets. As
midshipman
A midshipman is an officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Canada (Naval Cadet), Australia, Bangladesh, Namibia, New Zealand, South Afr ...
, Komura served on the
cruiser
A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several roles.
The term "cruiser", which has been in use for several hu ...
and
battleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ...
. After his commissioning as
ensign, he was assigned to the battleships and . He later served in various capacities aboard the battleship ,
destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort
larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...
s and , and cruisers , and .
Komura graduated from the
Naval Staff College in 1929, and with a promotion to
lieutenant commander assumed command of the destroyer , followed by the two years later. From 1932 to 1934, he was
naval attaché to the
United Kingdom. After his return to Japan, he served in various staff positions. He was promoted to captain on 15 November 1938.
Komura commanded the cruiser during the
attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. Participating in naval operations in the
Indian Ocean with the carrier task force, Komura took part in several battles including the
Battle of Midway and the
Battle of Santa Cruz.
Komura was captain of the battleship from December 1942-June 1943 and from June–December 1943.
Komura was promoted to
rear admiral
Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...
on 1 November 1943. Appointed chief of staff of the First Task Force, Komura took part in the
Battle of the Philippine Sea in June 1944. In October 1944, Komura assumed command of the 1st Carrier Division shortly before the
Battle of Leyte Gulf
The Battle of Leyte Gulf ( fil, Labanan sa golpo ng Leyte, lit=Battle of Leyte gulf; ) was the largest naval battle of World War II and by some criteria the largest naval battle in history, with over 200,000 naval personnel involved. It was fou ...
.
On 16 November 1944, the
light cruiser was assigned as the
flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...
of Rear Admiral Komura's new DesRon 2. On 6 April 1945, Komura received orders for
Operation ''Ten-Go'', to attack the American invasion force on
Okinawa. ''Yahagi'' was ordered to accompany battleship from
Tokushima for its final suicide mission against the American fleet.
At 12:20 on 7 April, the ''Yamato'' force was attacked by waves of 386 aircraft (180
fighters, 75
dive bomber
A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target simplifies the bomb's trajectory and allows the pilot to keep visual contact througho ...
s, 131
torpedo bombers) from Task Force 58.
At 12:46, a
torpedo hit ''Yahagi'' directly in her engine room, killing the entire engineering room crew and bringing her to a complete stop. Dead in the water, ''Yahagi'' was hit by at least six more torpedoes and 12 bombs by succeeding waves of air attacks. ''Yahagi'' capsized and sank at 14:05 at taking 445 crewmen with her. Komura was among the survivors rescued by the destroyer .
Recalled to Japan in May, Komura was stationed in
Tokyo Bay as commanding officer of
Yokosuka Naval District until 30 November 1945.
Komura lived on after the war until 1978. He was portrayed by actor Hirotarō Honda in the 2005 Japanese movie ''
Yamato''.
References
Further reading
*
* — First-hand account of the battle by the captain of the Japanese cruiser ''Yahagi''.
*
*
* A first-hand account of the battle by ''Yamato''s only surviving bridge officer.
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Komura, Keizo
1896 births
1978 deaths
People from Gunma Prefecture
Imperial Japanese Navy admirals
Japanese admirals of World War II