Combined Fleet

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聯合艦隊 Rengo Kantai Combined Fleet (Imperial Japanese Navy)
Ensign of Imperial Japanese Navy
Active	1894-1945
Country	Empire of Japan
Allegiance	Empire of Japan
Type	Navy component of Imperial Japanese Navy
Engagements	First Sino-Japanese War Russo-Japanese War World War I World War II
Commanders
Notable commanders	Isoroku Yamamoto Togo Heihachiro Hiroyasu Fushimi and many others
Insignia
Identification symbol	Imperial Seal of Japan and Seal of the Imperial Japanese Navy

The Combined Fleet (聯合艦隊, Rengō Kantai^?) was the main ocean-going component of the Imperial Japanese Navy, analogous to the German High Seas Fleet. Before World War II, the Combined Fleet was not a standing force, but a temporary force formed for the duration of a conflict or major naval maneuvers from various units normally under separate commands in peacetime.

1 History
2 Tactical organization as of attack on Pearl Harbor (December 1941)
3 Commanders of the IJN Combined Fleet
4 References

[edit] History

[edit] Sino-Japanese War (1894-95)

The Combined Fleet was formally created on 18 July 1894 by the merger of the Standing Fleet and the Western Fleet. The Standing Fleet (also known as the Readiness Fleet) contained the navy’s most modern and combat-capable warships. The Western Fleet was a reserve force consisting primarily of obsolete ships deemed unsuitable for front-line combat operations, but still suitable for commerce protection and coastal defense. Vice-admiral Itoh Sukeyuki was appointed the first Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet.^[1] for the duration of the first Sino-Japanese war against China.

[edit] Russo-Japanese War (1904-05)

The Combined Fleet was re-formed during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05 to provide a unified overall command for the three separate fleets in the Imperial Japanese Navy. The IJN 1st Fleet was the main battleship force, which formed the backbone of the navy and was intended to be used in a traditional line-of-battle showdown with an equivalent enemy battleship fleet (kantai kessen). The IJN 2nd Fleet was a fast, mobile strike force with armored cruisers and protected cruisers. The IJN 3rd Fleet was primarily a reserve fleet of obsolete vessels considered too weak for front-line combat service, but which could still be used in the operation to blockade Port Arthur. Admiral Togo Heihachiro was commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet during the Russo-Japanese War.

[edit] Interwar Years

The Combined Fleet was not a permanent organization, but was temporarily created when necessary - either during wartime or during fleet maneuvers. Thus, during the period from 1905-1924, the Combined Fleet was created only sporadically as the occasion or circumstances dictated, and disbanded immediately afterwards.

In 1924, the Imperial Japanese Navy declared in an edict on fleet organization that 'for the time being' the Combined Fleet would be a permanent organization consisting of the IJN 1st Fleet and IJN 2nd Fleet. As the commander of IJN 1st Fleet concurrently directed the Combined Fleet, the Combined Fleet did not have a Headquarters staff of its own.

From 1933, with the Manchurian Incident and the increasing tension with China, a permanent HQ staff for the Combined Fleet was established. By the late 1930s, it included most of Japan's warships - only the base units, the Special Naval Landing Forces, and the China Area Fleet lay outside the Combined Fleet.

[edit] World War II

Fleet Admiral and commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet Isoroku Yamamoto

The Combined Fleet came under command of the Imperial General Headquarters from in 1937. With the start of the Pacific War with the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Combined Fleet was almost synonymous with the Imperial Japanese Navy. It included the battleships, aircraft carriers, aircraft, and essentially the components that made up the bulk of the surface fleet. It was the main Japanese force during the Battle of the Coral Sea and Battle of Midway. However, after the losses at Midway and in the Solomon Islands campaign, the Navy re-organized into a number of “Area Fleets” for local operational control of various geographic zones, and the Combined Fleet evolved into more of an administrative organization.

As the war situation continued to deteriorate for the Japanese, and the territories controlled by the “Area Fleets” fell one after another to the United States Navy, the Imperial General Headquarters and the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff attempted to force the American fleet into a “decisive battle” in the Philippines per the kantai kessen philosophy. In the resultant Battle of Leyte Gulf, the Japanese fleet was effectively annihilated. Remnants of the Combined Fleet fled to Okinawa, but with inadequate fuel, air cover or reserves, by the time of the final suicide mission of the battleship Yamato in Operation Ten-Go, the Combined Fleet had effectively ceased to exist as an effective combat force. The Combined Fleet was formally dissolved on 10 October 1945.

[edit] Tactical organization as of attack on Pearl Harbor (December 1941)

Combined Fleet - Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto
- Main Force - Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto
  - 2 aircraft carriers
  - 7 battleships
  - 2 cruisers
  - 12 destroyers
- Southern Expedionary Force - Vice Admiral Nobutake Kondo
  - 2 battleships
  - 11 cruisers
  - 21 destroyers
  - 262 land-based planes
- North Philippines Group - Vice Admiral Ibo Takahashi
  - 5 cruisers
  - 15 destroyers
  - numerous patrol/mine craft
- South Philippines Group - Rear Admiral Takeo Takagi
  - 1 aircraft carrier
  - 2 cruisers
  - 12 destroyers
  - numerous patrol/mine craft
- South Seas Force - Vice Admiral Shigejoshi Inoue
  - 8 cruisers
  - 10 destroyers
  - numerous patrol/mine craft
- Pearl Harbor Attack Force - Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo
  - 6 aircraft carriers
  - 2 battleships
  - 3 cruisers
  - 9 destroyers
- Hong Kong Landing Force
  - 1 cruiser
  - 2 destroyers
  - few patrol/mine craft
- Advanced Submarine Force - Vice Admiral Mitsumi Shimizu
  - 25 submarines
- Northern Force - Vice Admiral Boshiro Hosogaja
  - 6 cruisers
  - few patrol/mine craft^[2]

[edit] Commanders of the IJN Combined Fleet

Commander in chief

	Rank	Name	Date
1	Fleet Admiral	Count Itoh Sukeyuki	18 Jul 1894 – 11 May 1895
2	Vice-Admiral	Baron Arichi Shinanojo	11 May 1895 – 16 Nov 1895
3	Fleet Admiral	Marquis Togo Heihachiro	28 Dec 1903 – 20 Dec 1905
4	Fleet Admiral	Baron Ijuin Goro	8 Oct 1908 – 20 Nov 1908
5	Admiral	Motaro Yoshimatsu	1 Nov 1915 – 13 Dec 1915
6	Admiral	Motaro Yoshimatsu	1 Sep 1916 – 14 Oct 1916
7	Admiral	Motaro Yoshimatsu	1 Oct 1917 – 22 Oct 1917
8	Admiral	Baron Yamashita Gentaro	1 Sep 1918 – 15 Oct 1918
9	Admiral	Baron Yamashita Gentaro	1 Sep 1918 – 15 Oct 1918
10	Admiral	Baron Yamashita Gentaro	1 Jun 1919 – 28 Oct 1918
10	Admiral	Yamaya Tanin	1 May 1920 – 24 Aug 1920
11	Admiral	Tochinai Sojiro	24 Aug 1920 – 31 Oct 1920
12	Admiral	Tochinai Sojiro	1 May 1921 – 31 Oct 1921
13	Admiral	Takeshita Isamu	1 Dec 1922 – 27 Jan 1924
14	Admiral	Baron Suzuki Kantaro	27 Jan 1924 – 1 Dec 1924
15	Admiral	Baron Okada Keisuke	1 Dec 1924 – 10 Dec 1926
16	Admiral	Hiroharu Kato	10 Dec 1926 – 10 Dec 1928
17	Admiral	Saburo Hyakutake	10 Dec 1928 – 11 Nov 1929
18	Admiral	Eisuke Yamamoto	11 Nov 1929 – 1 Dec 1931
19	Admiral	Seizo Kobayashi	1 Dec 1931 – 15 Nov 1933
20	Admiral	Nobumasa Suetsugu	15 Nov 1933 – 15 Nov 1934
21	Admiral	Sankichi Takahashi	15 Nov 1934 – 1 Dec 1936
22	Admiral	Mitsumasa Yonai	1 Dec 1936 – 2 Feb 1937
23	Fleet Admiral	Osami Nagano	2 Feb 1937 – 1 Dec 1937
24	Admiral	Zengo Yoshida	1 Dec 1937 – 30 Aug 1939
25	Fleet Admiral	Isoroku Yamamoto	30 Aug 1939 – 18 Apr 1943
26	Fleet Admiral	Mineichi Koga	21 May 1943 – 31 Mar 1944
27	Admiral	Soemu Toyoda	3 May 1944 – 29 May 1945
26	Vice Admiral	Jisaburo Ozawa	29 May 1945 – 10 Oct 1945

Chief of staff

	Rank	Name	Date
1	Admiral	Baron Samejima Kazunori	19 Jul 1894 – 17 Dec 1894
2	Admiral	Baron Dewa Shigeto	17 Dec 1894 – 25 Jul 1895
3	Admiral	Baron Kamimura Hikonojo	25 Jul 1895 – 16 Nov 1895
4	Fleet Admiral	Baron Shimamura Hayao	28 Dec 1903 – 12 Jan 1905
5	Fleet Admiral	Viscount Kato Tomosaburo	12 Jan 1905 – 20 Dec 1905
6	Admiral	Fujii Koichi	20 Dec 1905 – 22 Nov 1906
7	Admiral	Baron Yamashita Gentaro	22 Nov 1906 – 10 Dec 1908
8	Admiral	Takarabe Takeshi	10 Dec 1908 – 1 Dec 1909
9	Admiral	Nomaguchi Kaneo	1 Dec 1909 – 11 Mar 1911
10	Vice Admiral	Akiyama Saneyuki	11 Mar 1911 – 24 May 1912
11	Admiral	Isamu Takeshita	1 Dec 1912 – 24 May 1913
X	X	Vacant	23 May 1913 – 1 Dec 1913
12	Vice Admiral	Sato Tetsutaro	1 Dec 1913 – 17 Apr 1914
13	Vice Admiral	Kazuyoshi Yamaji	17 Apr 1914 – 1 Dec 1914
14	Vice Admiral	Shibakichi Yamanaka	1 Dec 1914 – 13 Dec 1915
15	Vice Admiral	Saburo Horiuchi	13 Dec 1915 – 1 Dec 1917
16	Vice Admiral	Hanroku Saito	1 Dec 1917 – 1 Dec 1918
17	Vice Admiral	Kajishiro Funakoshi	1 Dec 1918 – 1 Dec 1919
18	Vice Admiral	Hansaku Yoshioka	1 Dec 1919 – 1 Dec 1921
19	Vice Admiral	Kumazo Shirane	1 Dec 1921 – 1 Dec 1923
20	Rear Admiral	Bekinari Kabayama	1 Dec 1923 – 10 Nov 1924
21	Vice Admiral	Kanjiro Hara	10 Nov 1924 – 1 Dec 1925
22	Vice Admiral	Naotaro Ominato	1 Dec 1925 – 1 Nov 1926
23	Admiral	Sankichi Takahashi	1 Nov 1926 – 1 Dec 1927
24	Vice Admiral	Eijiro Hamano	1 Dec 1927 – 10 Dec 1928
25	Admiral	Ken Terajima	10 Dec 1928 – 30 Oct 1929
26	Admiral	Koichi Shiozawa	30 Oct 1929 – 1 Dec 1930
27	Admiral	Shigetaro Shimada	1 Dec 1930 – 1 Dec 1931
28	Admiral	Zengo Yoshida	1 Dec 1931 – 15 Sep 1933
29	Admiral	Soemu Toyoda	15 Sep 1933 – 15 Mar 1935
30	Admiral	Nobutake Kondo	15 Mar 1935 – 15 Nov 1935
31	Admiral	Naokuni Nomura	15 Nov 1935 – 16 Nov 1936
32	Rear Admiral	Yasutaro Iwashita	16 Nov 1936 – 18 Feb 1937
33	Vice Admiral	Jisaburo Ozawa	18 Feb 1937 – 15 Nov 1937
34	Vice Admiral	Ibo Takahashi	15 Nov 1937 – 5 Nov 1939
35	Vice Admiral	Shigeru Fukutome	5 Nov 1939 – 10 Apr 1941
36	Admiral	Seiichi Ito	10 Apr 1941 – 11 Aug 1941
37	Vice Admiral	Matome Ugaki	11 Aug 1941 – 22 May 1943
38	Vice Admiral	Shigeru Fukutome	22 May 1943 – 6 Apr 1944
39	Vice Admiral	Ryunosuke Kusaka	6 Apr 1944 – 24 Jun 1945
40	Vice Admiral	Shikazo Yano	24 Jun 1945 – 25 Sep 1945

[edit] References

[edit] Notes

[edit] Books

D'Albas, Andrieu (1965). Death of a Navy: Japanese Naval Action in World War II. Devin-Adair Pub. ISBN 0-8159-5302-X.
Dull, Paul S. (1978). A Battle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1941-1945. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-097-1.