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was an
admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in many navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force. Admiral is ranked above vice admiral and below admiral of ...
in the
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, Potsdam Declaration, when it was dissolved followin ...
(IJN) during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. Nagumo led Japan's main carrier battle group, the ''Kido Butai'', in the
attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Empire of Japan on the United States Pacific Fleet at Naval Station Pearl Harbor, its naval base at Pearl Harbor on Oahu, Territory of ...
in 1941, and over the next months in successful raids on Darwin in Australia and in the
Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...
. In June 1942, he participated at the Battle of Midway, where his strike force suffered a crushing defeat. Nagumo was re-assigned to another fleet during the
Guadalcanal campaign The Guadalcanal campaign, also known as the Battle of Guadalcanal and codenamed Operation Watchtower by the United States, was an Allies of World War II, Allied offensive against forces of the Empire of Japan in the Solomon Islands during th ...
, and later stationed in the Japanese home islands. In 1944, he was deployed to a naval command in the
Mariana Islands The Mariana Islands ( ; ), also simply the Marianas, are a crescent-shaped archipelago comprising the summits of fifteen longitudinally oriented, mostly dormant volcanic mountains in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, between the 12th and 21st pa ...
, where he committed suicide during the Battle of Saipan.


Early life

Nagumo was born in the city of Yonezawa,
Yamagata Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. It has a population of 1,005,926 (1 February 2025) and an area of 9,325 Square kilometre, km2 (3,600 Square mile, sq mi). Its neighbours are Akita Prefectu ...
, in northern Japan in 1887. He graduated from the 36th class of the IJN Academy in 1908, with a ranking of 8 out of a class of 191 cadets. As a
midshipman A midshipman is an officer of the lowest Military rank#Subordinate/student officer, rank in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Royal Cana ...
, he served in the protected cruisers and and the armored cruiser . After his promotion to
ensign Ensign most often refers to: * Ensign (flag), a flag flown on a vessel to indicate nationality * Ensign (rank), a navy (and former army) officer rank Ensign or The Ensign may also refer to: Places * Ensign, Alberta, Alberta, Canada * Ensign, Ka ...
in 1910 he was assigned to cruiser . After attending
torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...
and naval artillery schools, he was promoted to sub-lieutenant and served in the
battleship A battleship is a large, heavily naval armour, armored warship with a main battery consisting of large naval gun, guns, designed to serve as a capital ship. From their advent in the late 1880s, battleships were among the largest and most form ...
, followed by the
destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were conceived i ...
. In 1914, he was promoted to
lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...
and was assigned to the battlecruiser , followed by the destroyer . He was assigned his first command, the destroyer , on 15 December 1917. Nagumo graduated from the
Naval War College The Naval War College (NWC or NAVWARCOL) is the staff college and "Home of Thought" for the United States Navy at Naval Station Newport in Newport, Rhode Island. The NWC educates and develops leaders, supports defining the future Navy and associa ...
and was promoted to lieutenant commander in 1920. His specialty was torpedo and destroyer tactics. From 1920 to 1921, he was captain of the destroyer , but was soon sent to shore duty with various assignments by the IJN General Staff. He became a
commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...
in 1924. From 1925 to 1926, Nagumo accompanied a Japanese mission to study naval warfare strategy, tactics, and equipment in
Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's extent varies depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the Western half of the ancient Mediterranean ...
and the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. After his return to Japan, Nagumo was assigned to duties in Chinese territorial waters. He was appointed captain of the river gunboat from 20 March 1926 to 15 October 1926, followed by the gunboat from 15 October 1926 to 15 November 1927. He then served as an instructor at the IJN Academy from 1927 to 1929. Nagumo was promoted to captain in November 1929 and assumed command of the light cruiser and from 1930 to 1931 was commander of the 11th Destroyer Division. After serving in administrative positions from 1931 to 1933, he assumed command of the heavy cruiser from 1933 to 1934, and the battleship from 1934 to 1935. He was promoted to
Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral. Rear admiral is usually immediately senior to commodore and immediately below vice admiral. It is ...
on 1 November 1935. As a Rear Admiral, Nagumo commanded the 8th Cruiser Division to support
Imperial Japanese Army The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA; , ''Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun'', "Army of the Greater Japanese Empire") was the principal ground force of the Empire of Japan from 1871 to 1945. It played a central role in Japan’s rapid modernization during th ...
movements in China from the Yellow Sea. As a leading officer of the militaristic Fleet Faction, he also received a boost in his career from political forces. From 1937 to 1938, he was commandant of the Torpedo School, and from 1938 to 1939, he was commander of the 3rd Cruiser Division. Nagumo was promoted to
vice admiral Vice admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to lieutenant general and air marshal. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral. Australia In the Royal Australian Navy, the rank of Vice ...
on 15 November 1939. From November 1940 to April 1941, Nagumo was commandant of the Naval War College.


World War II

On 10 April 1941, Nagumo was appointed commander-in-chief of the 1st Air Fleet, the IJN's main carrier battle group, largely due to his seniority. Many contemporaries and historians have doubted his suitability for this command, given his lack of familiarity with
naval aviation Naval aviation / Aeronaval is the application of Military aviation, military air power by Navy, navies, whether from warships that embark aircraft, or land bases. It often involves ''navalised aircraft'', specifically designed for naval use. Seab ...
. Nagumo's friend and fellow admiral Nishizō Tsukahara would say that: "He (Nagumo) was wholly unfitted by background, training, experience, and interest for a major role in Japan’s naval air arm." Nagumo was appointed by the Navy General Staff, rather than the Combined Fleet. Vice-admiral Jisaburō Ozawa was Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto's choice for the command of First Air Fleet but Yamamoto did not have a strong enough case to remove Nagumo. By this time, he had visibly aged, physically and mentally. Physically, he suffered from arthritis, possibly from his younger days as a ''kendoka''. Mentally, he had become a cautious officer who carefully worked over the tactical plans of every operation in which he was involved; his inflexibility in command decisions became more apparent. Admiral Tsukahara had doubts about Nagumo's appointment, and commented, "Nagumo was an officer of the old school, a specialist of torpedo and surface maneuvers.... He did not have any idea of the capability and potential of naval aviation." One son of Nagumo described him as a brooding father, obsessed with and later regretful about pressuring his sons into joining the IJN. In contrast, Nagumo's junior naval officers thought of him as a father figure.World War II Database page on Nagumo
Despite his limited experience, he was a strong advocate of combining sea and air power, although he was opposed to Admiral Yamamoto's plan to attack the
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
Naval Station Pearl Harbor Naval Station Pearl Harbor is a United States naval base on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. In 2010, as part of the recommendations of the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) commission, the naval station was consolidated with the United States A ...
. While commanding the First Air Fleet, Nagumo oversaw the
attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Empire of Japan on the United States Pacific Fleet at Naval Station Pearl Harbor, its naval base at Pearl Harbor on Oahu, Territory of ...
, but he was later criticized for his failure to launch a third attack, which might have destroyed the fuel oil storage and repair facilities. This could have rendered the most important U.S. naval base in the Pacific useless, especially as the continued operation of the submarine base and the use of the intelligence station at the installation were critical factors in Japan's defeat in the
Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War or the Pacific Theatre, was the Theater (warfare), theatre of World War II fought between the Empire of Japan and the Allies of World War II, Allies in East Asia, East and Southeast As ...
. Nagumo was surrounded by able lieutenants such as Minoru Genda and Mitsuo Fuchida. He also fought well in the early 1942 campaigns, obtaining success as a fleet commander at the Bombing of Darwin and at the Indian Ocean raid on the Eastern Fleet, the latter of which sank an aircraft carrier, two cruisers, and two destroyers, and caused Admiral Sir James Somerville to retreat to
East Africa East Africa, also known as Eastern Africa or the East of Africa, is a region at the eastern edge of the Africa, African continent, distinguished by its unique geographical, historical, and cultural landscape. Defined in varying scopes, the regi ...
.


Battle of Midway

The Battle of Midway, in June 1942, brought Nagumo's streak of victories to an end. During the battle, a Martin B-26 Marauder, seriously damaged by anti-aircraft fire, flew directly at the
bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...
of the aircraft carrier . The aircraft, either attempting a suicide ramming, or out of control, narrowly missed striking the carrier's bridge, which could have killed Nagumo, before it crashed into the ocean. Nagumo soon prepared to launch another attack on Midway, in direct violation of Yamamoto's order to keep the reserve strike force armed for anti-ship operations.; ; That change in plans required arming the available planes with bombs, suitable for attacking land targets, rather than torpedoes, designed for anti-ship actions. However, when Nagumo received scouting reports that American ships were in the area, he changed plans and ordered his planes be rearmed with torpedoes to attack American ships. The situation caught his aircraft in-between, with half his planes armed with torpedoes and the other half with bombs and no time to switch everything back to torpedoes. American dive-bombers attacked ''Akagi'', and , resulting in fires and further explosions due to unsecured ordinance, crippling all three. After the attack, Nagumo appeared to have gone into a state of shock; he stood near the ship's compass looking out at the flames on his ship and two other carriers, and despite being asked to shift his flag to another vessel, Nagumo was reluctant, muttering, “It's not time yet”. Nagumo's chief of staff, Rear Admiral Ryūnosuke Kusaka, was able to persuade him; Nagumo nodded, with tears in his eyes. Nagumo and his staff were forced to evacuate through the forward windows of the bridge by rope. An expert in judo, Nagumo landed lightly, whereas Kusaka badly sprained both ankles and was burned during the evacuation. The First Air Fleet lost four carriers during the turning point of the
Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War or the Pacific Theatre, was the Theater (warfare), theatre of World War II fought between the Empire of Japan and the Allies of World War II, Allies in East Asia, East and Southeast As ...
, and the massive losses of carrier aircraft maintenance personnel would prove detrimental to the performance of the IJN in later engagements. The loss of the four carriers, their aircraft, and their maintenance crews, plus the loss of 120 experienced pilots, resulted in Japan losing the strategic initiative in the Pacific. In the aftermath of the battle, Kusaka found a downcast Nagumo, seemingly contemplating suicide; Kusaka eventually talked him out of it. Following the battle, Nagumo appeared to have lost his aggressiveness and effectiveness; he teared up when talking about the events of Midway to his two sons in 1944.


Later naval operations, Guadalcanal campaign and the Battle of Saipan

Afterwards, Nagumo was reassigned as commander-in-chief of the Third Fleet and commanded aircraft carriers in the
Guadalcanal campaign The Guadalcanal campaign, also known as the Battle of Guadalcanal and codenamed Operation Watchtower by the United States, was an Allies of World War II, Allied offensive against forces of the Empire of Japan in the Solomon Islands during th ...
in the battles of the Eastern Solomons and the Santa Cruz Islands. Despite the Japanese victory at the Santa Cruz Nagumo himself acknowledged that the attrition imposed to the Japanese Imperial Navy in these actions, especially with the loss of experienced pilots, was "shattering strategic loss for Japan", nowithstanding the tactical success. On 11 November 1942, Nagumo was reassigned to Japan, where he was given command of the Sasebo Naval District. He then transferred to the Kure Naval District on 21 June 1943. From October 1943 to February 1944, Nagumo was once again made commander-in-chief of First Fleet, which was by that time largely involved in only training duties to conserve what little remained of Japan's air force. As Japan's military situation deteriorated, Nagumo was deployed on 4 March 1944 for the short-lived command of the 14th Air Fleet and the Central Pacific Area Fleet in the
Mariana Islands The Mariana Islands ( ; ), also simply the Marianas, are a crescent-shaped archipelago comprising the summits of fifteen longitudinally oriented, mostly dormant volcanic mountains in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, between the 12th and 21st pa ...
. The Battle of Saipan began on 15 June 1944. The IJN, under Vice Admiral Jisaburō Ozawa, was overwhelmed within days by the U.S. 5th Fleet in the decisive Battle of the Philippine Sea, where Japan lost three fleet carriers and about 600 aircraft, none of which could be replaced. Nagumo and his Army peer Lieutenant General Yoshitsugu Saito were now on their own to keep control of
Saipan Saipan () is the largest island and capital of the Northern Mariana Islands, an unincorporated Territories of the United States, territory of the United States in the western Pacific Ocean. According to 2020 estimates by the United States Cens ...
.


Death

On 6 July 1944, Nagumo, unable to defend his position any longer and refusing to be taken captive, killed himself with a pistol shot to his temple. Defeated commanders were expected to perform '' seppuku'' in accordance with ''bushido'', but he may not have had the time for such a complex ritual. His remains were recovered by U.S. Marines in a remote cave where he had been forced to maintain his headquarters due to extensive bombardment.Breaching the Marianas: The Battle for Saipan
/ref> He was posthumously made a full admiral and awarded the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Golden Kite. Nagumo's grave is located at the Ōbai-in sub-temple of Engaku-ji in
Kamakura , officially , is a city of Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan. It is located in the Kanto region on the island of Honshu. The city has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 people per km2 over the tota ...
, next to the grave of his son, Susumu Nagumo, who was killed in battle aboard the destroyer on 4 December 1944.


Naval career


Notes


References

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Further reading

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External links


Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo, IJN, (1886-1944)



WW2DB: Chuichi Nagumo


(Marines in World War II Commemorative Series) {{DEFAULTSORT:Nagumo, Chuichi 1887 births 1944 deaths People from Yamagata Prefecture Attack on Pearl Harbor Battle of Midway Japanese admirals of World War II Imperial Japanese Navy admirals Japanese military personnel who died by suicide Suicides by firearm in the Northern Mariana Islands