Ibō Takahashi

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Ibō Takahashi
20 April 1888 - 18 March 1947^[1]

Place of birth	Fukushima Prefecture, Japan
Allegiance	Empire of Japan
Service/branch	Imperial Japanese Navy
Years of service	1908-1945
Rank	Vice Admiral
Commands held	Tenryū, Atago, Kirishima IJN 3rd Fleet, 2nd Southern Expeditionary Fleet, Southwest Area Fleet Kure Naval District
Battles/wars	World War II

In this Japanese name, the family name is Takahashi.

Ibō Takahashi (高橋伊望, Takahashi Ibō^?, 20 April 1888 - 18 March 1947) was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II.

1 Biography
2 References
- 2.1 Books
- 2.2 External links
3 Notes

[edit] Biography

Takahashi was a native of Fukushima prefecture, born in a family of Eastern Orthodox faithful. His name Ibo was Chinese transliteration of John. He graduated from the 36th class of the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy in 1908. He was ranked 10th out of 191 cadets. He served his midshipman duty aboard the cruisers Soya and Suma and was assigned to the Asama after being commissioned as an ensign in 1910. He subsequently served on the destroyer Nenohi and battleship Shikishima. As a lieutenant from 1914, he served on the Tone and Fuso.

After graduation from the Naval War College (Japan) in 1919, he was promoted to lieutenant commander and assigned as Chief Gunnery Officer on the Iwami. Around this time, Takahashi became involved in the militant movement within the Japanese military, and helped influence the implementation of the proposal to devolve overall naval command from the Minister of the Navy to the Chief of Naval General Staff (the implementation of which was ratified by Emperor Hirohito on 25 September 1933).

From August 1923 to August 1925, Takahashi was assigned as naval attaché to the United Kingdom, during which time he was promoted to commander. After his return, he served for a year as executive officer on the Tama and became captain of the Tenryū in 1929. He was also part of the Japanese delegation to the London Naval Treaty negotiations in late 1929.

Takahashi was promoted to captain 30 November 1929 and was given command of the Atago in 1932, and the battleship Kirishima in 1933.

He was promoted to rear admiral on 15 November 1935, and became chief of the Second Section of the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff. While on the General Staff, he was a strong proponent of the Nanshin-ron, urging that New Guinea, Borneo and the Celebes in the Netherlands East Indies be considered as part of Japan's stratgic sphere-of-interest. On 15 November 1939, Takahashi became vice admiral, and was given command of the Mako Guard District.

Shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Takahashi served as commander-in-chief of the IJN 3rd Fleet, which included the 5th and 7th Cruiser Squadrons and the 2nd and 4th Destroyer Flotillas and formed part of the Southern Force under the command of Vice Admiral Nobutake Kondo based in Taiwan in 1941.

In January and February of 1942, this force was split into the Eastern and Central Forces; the first for the invasions of Menado, Kendari and Makassar in Celebes and amphibious operations in the Banda Sea, and the second for the invasion of Dutch Borneo. Takahashi was Commander of Eastern and Central Forces during the invasion of Java. His forces included the "Direct Support Force" under Rear Admiral Shoji Nishimura, the "Second Escort Force" under Rear Admiral Raizo Tanaka, the 1st and 2nd "Naval Base Forces", under Rear Admiral Takeo Kurita, the "Third Escort Force", under Rear-Admiral Chuichi Hara, and the "First Air Group" made up of the light carrier Ryūjō and 56 transports.

On 10 March 1942, he was transferred to the newly created 2nd Southern Expeditionary Fleet, and to the newly created Southwest Area Fleet a month later. In November 1942, he was transferred back to Japan to become Commander in Chief of the Kure Naval District. He held this post until retiring from active duty in 1944.

[edit] References

[edit] Books

Agawa, Hiroyuki (2000). The Reluctant Admiral: Yamamoto and the Imperial Navy. Kodansha International. ISBN 4770025394.
Dupuy, Trevor N. (1992). Encyclopedia of Military Biography. I B Tauris & Co Ltd. ISBN 1-85043-569-3.
Spector, Ronald (1985). Eagle Against the Sun: The American War With Japan. Vintage. ISBN 0394741013.
Schom, Ronald (2004). The Eagle and the Rising Sun: The Japanese-American War, 1941-1943: Pearl Harbor through Guadalcanal. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0393326284.