Isoroku Yamamoto was a Japanese Fleet Admiral of the Imperial Japanese Navy and the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet during World War II until his death.
Background
Yamamoto was born on April 4, 1884 in Nagaoka, Niigata, Japan. His father was Sadayoshi Takano (高野 貞吉), an intermediate-rank samurai of the Nagaoka Domain. "Isoroku" is an old Japanese term meaning "56"; the name referred to his father's age at Isoroku's birth.
In 1916, Isoroku was adopted into the Yamamoto family (another family of former Nagaoka samurai) and took the Yamamoto name. It was a common practice for samurai families lacking sons to adopt suitable young men in this fashion to carry on the family name, the rank and the income that comes with it.
Education
At age 16, after taking competitive examinations, Isoroku enrolled in the Naval Academy at Etajima, off the shore of Hiroshima. After graduating from the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy in 1904, Yamamoto served on the armored cruiser Nisshin during the Russo-Japanese War. He was wounded at the Battle of Tsushima, losing two fingers (the index and middle fingers) on his left hand, as the cruiser was hit repeatedly by the Russian battle line. He returned to the Naval Staff College in 1914, emerging as a lieutenant commander in 1916.
In April of 1919, Yamamoto began two years of study at Harvard University, where he concentrated on the oil industry.
Career
Yamamoto then taught at the Japanese Naval Staff College (1921-1923) before being sent to Kasumigaura (in Ibaraki prefecture) for flight training in 1924. Promoted to captain, Yamamoto was assigned to another tour in the United States, first as an aide to an admiral and then as a naval attaché in Washington (1926-1928).
Returning to Japan, Yamamoto embarked on a 10-year period that made him one of Japan’s foremost aviation officers. He commanded the aircraft carrier Akagi in 1928. Promoted to rear admiral in 1929, Yamamoto served as chief of the Technological Division of the Naval Air Corps, where he championed the development of fast carrier-borne fighter planes, a program that produced the famous Zero fighters. In 1934 Yamamoto commanded the First Carrier Division, and in 1935 he headed the Japanese delegation to the London Naval Conference, where Japan abandoned 15 years of uneasy naval détente among the world powers. In 1936, as a vice admiral, he became the vice minister of the navy. Yamamoto commanded the First Fleet in 1938, and he became commander in chief of the Combined Fleet in 1939. In these later capacities, Yamamoto used his growing seniority to turn the navy away from battleships, which he viewed as obsolete, in favour of tactics based on aircraft carriers - carrier tactics that he later incorporated into the plan to attack Pearl Harbor.
As the senior seagoing admiral in the Japanese fleet, Yamamoto prepared for war against the United States. Contrary to popular belief, Yamamoto argued for a war with the United States once Japan made the fateful decision to invade the rich lands of Southeast Asia, others in the naval ministry hoped to avoid war with America even while making war with Dutch and British possessions in Asia. When the Japanese emperor Hirohito adopted Yamamoto’s view, the admiral focused his energy on the coming fight with the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Well aware of the immense industrial capacity of the United States, but misunderstanding the potential resolve of the American public, Yamamoto asserted Japan’s only chance for victory lay in a surprise attack that would cripple the American naval forces in the Pacific and force the United States into a negotiated peace, thereby allowing Japan a free reign in greater East Asia. Any long war with the United States, Yamamoto believed, would spell disaster for Japan. Although he was not the author of the detailed plan to attack Pearl Harbor, he certainly championed it within government circles. On Dec. 7, 1941, his carriers, under the immediate command of Vice Adm. Nagumo Chūichi, scored a stunning tactical victory over the U.S. Pacific Fleet at anchorage in Pearl Harbor. An unbroken string of naval victories followed this attack for six months, and Yamamoto’s prestige reached new heights by the late spring of 1942.
Yet the great tactical success of the Pearl Harbor strike obscured a strategic calamity. Far from encouraging the United States to sue for peace, the attack enflamed the American public; the surprise bombing, designed to avert a long conflict with the United States, instead helped ensure a prolonged and total war. Yamamoto stumbled further at the Battle of Midway (June 4-6, 1942), where he hoped to destroy U.S. ships not caught at Pearl Harbor, notably the U.S. Navy’s aircraft carriers. But the strike at Midway failed, partly because the United States had excellent intelligence information regarding Japanese forces but also because Yamamoto’s plans were too complex and his objectives confused.
Still, American assessment of Yamamoto was great enough that, when intelligence information revealed the Japanese admiral’s flight plan in April 1943, U.S. commanders in the Pacific undertook to ambush and shoot down his plane. On April 18, 1943, during an inspection tour of Japanese bases in the South Pacific, Yamamoto’s plane was shot down near Bougainville Island, and the admiral perished.
Achievements
Yamamoto held several important posts in the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), and undertook many of its changes and reorganizations, especially its development of naval aviation. He was the commander-in-chief during the early years of the Pacific War and oversaw major engagements including the attack on Pearl Harbor and the Battle of Midway. He was killed when American code breakers identified his flight plans, enabling the Army Air Force to shoot down his plane. His death was a major blow to Japanese military morale during World War II.
Views
Quotations:
"If I can keep 5, 000 ideographs in my mind, it is not hard to keep in mind 52 cards."
"If we fight both Britain and America we will be defeated…."
"The fact that we have had a small success at Pearl Harbor is nothing…. Personally I do not think it is a good thing to whip up propaganda to encourage the nation. People should think things over and realize how serious the situation is."
"We would have to march into Washington and sign the treaty in the White House."
"I have killed quite a few of the enemy, and many of my own men have been killed. So I believe the time has come for me to die too."
Personality
Yamamoto was an avid gambler, enjoying Go, shogi, billiards, bridge, mah jong, poker, and other games that tested his wits and sharpened his mind. He frequently made jokes about moving to Monaco and starting his own casino. He practiced calligraphy. He enjoyed the company of geisha.
Quotes from others about the person
In addition, Yonai later said, "It was the only way to save his life—send him off to sea. "
Because of such restraint, Rear Admiral Edwin T. Layton, a leading U. S. staff officer, can write: "Pearl Harbor may have been a disaster, but it was a long way from being the knockout blow that Yamamoto had intended. "
Emperor Hirohito personally issued the orders to Yamamoto: "You must be determined to meet our expectations by exalting our force and authority throughout the world by annihilating the enemy. "
Interests
Yamamoto practiced calligraphy.
Connections
In 1918 Isoroku married Reiko Mihashi, with whom he had two sons and two daughters.
