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of personnel, ships, units and organizations of the Imperial Japanese Navy
Due to the large amount of data the data base will be uploaded in parts.
CONTENTS:
A short introduction by Eugen Pinak
A) IJN Ships 1941-1945:
1. Aircraft carriers, seaplane carriers/tenders, converted seaplane tenders
4. Light cruisers, Armed merchant cruisers
5-1. Destroyers - names staring from A to M
5-2. Destroyers - names staring from N to Y
5-3. 2nd class Destroyers
6. Submarines, submarine tenders
A short introduction by Eugen Pinak
For the last 30 years Jeff Donahoo compiled the data on IJN officers’ careers. While researching officers’ careers he also gathered information on ships and naval units/organizations. And I am honored that he agreed to publish all this data on my website.
To better understand information in the data base, I recommend my following articles:
A short primer on the organization of the IJA and IJN
Note, that even after 30 years of work this data base it's still a work in progress, so corrections and additions are welcome. You can send them to Jeff Donahoo's email: ijnww2@yahoo.com or to Eugen Pinak (see my contacts page).
Standard Hepburn Romanization of Japanese language is used.
Dates: In DD.MM.YY format. So 1st January 1900 is 01.01.00.
Ships:
Listed alphabetically. Only ships, which served in the IJN during the 1941-1945 Pacific War, are included.
Type/Unit: Type of ship or unit, followed by the Japanese term for that unit
Name: In bold followed by Kanji and Katakana characters.
On smaller ships (destroyers and below) the katakana is what was painted on the side of the ship prewar. It is read right to left. For ships that have a letter and number, ie Ch, Cha, Ma, W, Wa, the letters were never part of their name. These were symbols for use in maps and reports. I have kept them as convenience as this is how their names are commonly known today. The exception are submarines, whose letter (I, RO, HA) is part of their name.
Meaning: this is the translation of the name or the geographical reference of the name.
Fleet Assignments: Unit that reports to, smallest unit first.
If built during the war, the shipyard where constructed will be the first two lines.
Reserve is when the ship is inactive for rebuilding or not otherwise commissioned.
Removed from Navy List is the date when ship is formally removed from service.
Officers:
Listed alphabetically or by the date of appointment to ship/unit.
Names are in Japanese fashion, Rank, Last name, First Name, Naval Academy Class or year commissioned, and dates officially in post. Where possible the name in Kanji is provided.
Rank is at the time of date took command. If a beginning date or ending date is blank, it means I was not able to confirm that date. If an officer is shown as being appointed before the ship is commissioned, he was Equipping Officer for that department.
Rank abbreviations:
Adm – Admiral
VA – Vice admiral
RA – Rear admiral
Capt – Captain
Cdr – Commander
LtCdr – Lieutenant commander
Lt – Lieutenant
Lt(jg) – Lieutenant (junior grade) = UK Sub-lieutenant
Ens – Ensign = UK Acting Sub-lieutenant
Resv – Reserve
S.D. – Special Duty (or Special)
Officers marked with *, died while in that post.
Due to shortages of officers, in most cases when a post is marked Vacant, the post is usually not truly vacant, often a Special Duty or Reserve officer was appointed, or the post was not officially filled and an existing officer took on the role as additional duty.
The posting of special duty officers was announced by Chinjufu Jirei Koho (Naval District Transfer and Promotion Lists), not Kaigun Jirei Koho (Naval Transfer and Promotion Lists). Unfortunately, most of Chinjufu Jirei Koho did not survive the war.
Notes on some posts:
The post of Executive Officer (Fukuchō) was generally abolished about 01.12.43
The posts of Chief Engineer (Kikanchō), Repair Officer (Kosakucho), Operations Officer (Unyocho) were generally abolished on 01.12.43 and often combined into the post of Naimucho.
The post of Maintenance Officer (Seibicho) was generally abolished on 25.11.43 and replaced with Overhaul and Replacement Officer (Shuhocho), however this wasn’t always the case and the post of Seibicho continued.
Post of Torpedo Officer (Suiraichō) was renamed Mine Officer (Kiraicho) on 01.04.41 in Minecraft.
About mid-1945, several Kaibokan had the post of Mine Officer (Kiraicho) added, who were in charge of depth charges.