Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff

The was the highest organ within the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). In charge of planning and operations, it was headed by an Admiral headquartered in Tokyo.

History

Created in 1893, the Navy General Staff took over operational (as opposed to administrative) authority over the Imperial Japanese Navy from the Navy Ministry. It was responsible for the planning and execution of national defense strategy. Through the Imperial General Headquarters it reported directly to the Emperor, not to the Prime Minister, National Diet or even the Navy Ministry. It was always headed by an admiral on active duty, and was based in Tokyo.

"The ministry was responsible for the naval budget, ship construction, weapons procurement, personnel, relations with the Diet and the cabinet and broad matters of naval policy. The General Staff directed the operations of the fleet and the preparation of war plans".

After the Washington Naval Conference of 1921–22, where Japan agreed to keep the size of its fleet smaller than that of the United Kingdom and the United States, the Imperial Japanese Navy became divided into the mutually hostile Fleet Faction and Treaty Faction political cliques. The Navy Ministry tended to be pro-Treaty Faction and was anxious to maintain the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. However the Navy General Staff came to be dominated by the Fleet faction, and gradually gained ascendancy in the 1930s with increasing Japanese militarism. The Navy General Staff pushed through the attack on Pearl Harbor against the wishes of the more diplomatic Navy Ministry.

After 1937, both the Navy Minister and the Chief of the Navy General Staff were members of the Imperial General Headquarters.

With the defeat of the Empire of Japan in World War II, the Navy General Staff was abolished together with the Imperial Japanese Navy by the American occupation authorities in November 1945 and was not revived by the post-war Constitution of Japan.

Organization

The General Staff was organized as follows:

• 1st Department: Operations Bureau
  • 1st Section: Operations
  • 2nd Section: Training
• 2nd Department: Weapons and Mobilization Bureau
  • 3rd Section: Weapons
  • 4th Section: Mobilization
• 3rd Department: Intelligence Bureau
  • 5th Section: Intelligence for America
  • 6th Section: Intelligence for China
  • 7th Section: Intelligence for Soviet Union
  • 8th Section: Intelligence for UK and Europe
• 4th Department: Communications Bureau
  • 9th Section: Communications
  • 10th Section: Cryptography

Chiefs of the General Staff

Timeline

<timeline> ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:12 PlotArea = top:10 bottom:50 right:100 left:20 AlignBars = late

DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1889 till:01/01/1946 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:1890 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:1889

BarData =

 barset:PM

PlotData =

 width:5 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till
 barset:PM

from: 08/03/1889 till: 17/05/1889 color:darkblue text:"Itō Toshiyoshi"
from: 17/05/1889 till: 17/06/1891 color:darkblue text:"Arichi Shinanojō"
from: 17/06/1891 till: 12/12/1892 color:darkblue text:"Inoue Yoshika"
from: 12/12/1892 till: 18/07/1894 color:darkblue text:"Nakamuta Kuranosuke"
from: 18/07/1894 till: 11/05/1895 color:darkblue text:"Kabayama Sukenori"
from: 11/05/1895 till: 20/12/1905 color:darkblue text:"Itō Sukeyuki"
from: 20/12/1905 till: 01/12/1909 color:darkblue text:"Tōgō Heihachirō"
from: 01/12/1909 till: 22/04/1914 color:darkblue text:"Ijūin Gorō"
from: 22/04/1914 till: 01/12/1920 color:darkblue text:"Shimamura Hayao"
from: 01/12/1920 till: 15/04/1925 color:darkblue text:"Yamashita Gentarō"
from: 15/04/1925 till: 22/01/1929 color:darkblue text:"Kantarō Suzuki"
from: 22/01/1929 till: 11/06/1930 color:darkblue text:"Katō Hiroharu"
from: 11/06/1930 till: 02/02/1932 color:darkblue text:"Taniguchi Naomi"
from: 02/02/1932 till: 09/04/1941 color:darkblue text:"Prince Fushimi Hiroyasu"
from: 09/04/1941 till: 21/02/1944 color:darkblue text:"Osami Nagano"
from: 21/02/1944 till: 02/08/1944 color:darkblue text:"Shigetarō Shimada"
from: 02/08/1944 till: 29/05/1945 color:darkblue text:"Koshirō Oikawa"
from: 29/05/1945 till: 15/10/1945 color:darkblue text:"Soemu Toyoda"

</timeline>

See also

• Ministry of the Navy (Japan)

External links

• "Foreign Office Files for Japan and the Far East". Adam Matthew Publications. Accessed 2 March 2005.