1. Gunichi Mikawa was a vice-admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II.
19 Facts About Gunichi Mikawa
1. 2.
Gunichi Mikawa graduated from the 38th class of the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy in 1910, ranked third of his class of 149 cadets.
3.
From 1919 to 1920, Lieutenant Gunichi Mikawa was attached to the Japanese delegation to the post-war Versailles Peace Treaty Conference in France.
4.
Gunichi Mikawa was an instructor at the Naval Torpedo School and held several other highly visible posts.
5.
Gunichi Mikawa was commanding officer of the heavy cruisers Aoba and Chokai and the battleship Kirishima in the mid-1930s.
6.
Gunichi Mikawa was promoted to rear admiral on 1 December 1936.
7.
Gunichi Mikawa had duty with the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff and Imperial General Headquarters from 1937 to 1939, then went to sea again to command a succession of fleet squadrons, first in cruisers and then in battleships.
8.
Gunichi Mikawa was promoted to vice admiral on 15 November 1940.
9.
At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Gunichi Mikawa was in command of Battleship Division 3.
10.
Gunichi Mikawa personally led the first section of his division as part of the screening force for the Pearl Harbor attack force, while the remaining battleships were sent south to cover the landings of Japanese troops in Malaya.
11.
Gunichi Mikawa likewise led from the front during the Indian Ocean Raid and the Battle of Midway.
12.
From 14 July 1942 to 1 April 1943, Gunichi Mikawa commanded the newly formed IJN 8th Fleet in the South Pacific Ocean, based primarily at the major bases at Rabaul on the island of New Britain and Kavieng on New Ireland.
13.
However, Gunichi Mikawa was somewhat criticized by his superiors for his failure to aggressively follow up on his victory.
14.
Gunichi Mikawa could have pursued to the south and attacked the fleet of unarmed American cargo transports that were at anchor, waiting until daybreak when they could continue delivering ammunition and supplies to the American 1st Marine Division, which had landed on Guadalcanal on 8 August 1942.
15.
Gunichi Mikawa was forced to take responsibility for the loss of most of the Solomon Islands, and he was reassigned to rear areas, such as the Philippines.
16.
Admiral Gunichi Mikawa stated to the High Command of the IJN that fighting the Americans for the Solomon Islands was simply pouring Japanese soldiers, sailors, airmen, and ships into a "black hole".
17.
Gunichi Mikawa was correct about this, but his superiors in the IJN and the generals of the Japanese Army refused to listen to him.
18.
Gunichi Mikawa had Naval General Staff and other shore posts in Japan from April to September 1943.
19.
From 3 September 1943 to 18 June 1944, Gunichi Mikawa commanded the 2nd Southern Expeditionary Fleet in the Philippines.