Ibō Takahashi

Infobox Military Person
name= Ibō Takahashi
lived= 20 April 1888 - 18 March 1947 [Nishida, "Imperial Japanese Navy".]
placeofbirth=Fukushima Prefecture, Japan
placeofdeath=


caption=
nickname=
allegiance=Empire of Japan
branch=navy|Empire of Japan
serviceyears=1908-1945
rank=Vice Admiral
commands="Tenryū", "Atago", "Kirishima"
IJN 3rd Fleet, 2nd Southern Expeditionary Fleet, Southwest Area Fleet
Kure Naval District
unit=
battles=World War II
awards=
family=
laterwork=nihongo|Ibō Takahashi|高橋 伊望| Takahashi Ibō|extra= 20 April 1888 - 18 March 1947 was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II.

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 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.

References

Books

*cite book
last = Agawa
first = Hiroyuki
authorlink =
year = 2000
title = The Reluctant Admiral: Yamamoto and the Imperial Navy
publisher = Kodansha International
location =
id = ISBN 4770025394
*cite book
last = Dupuy
first = Trevor N.
year = 1992
title = Encyclopedia of Military Biography
publisher = I B Tauris & Co Ltd
location =
id = ISBN 1-85043-569-3
*cite book
last = Spector
first = Ronald
authorlink =
coauthors =
year = 1985
title = Eagle Against the Sun: The American War With Japan
publisher = Vintage
location =
id = ISBN 0394741013
*cite book
last = Schom
first = Ronald
authorlink =
coauthors =
year = 2004
chapter =
title = The Eagle and the Rising Sun: The Japanese-American War, 1941-1943: Pearl Harbor through Guadalcanal
publisher = W. W. Norton & Company
location =
id = ISBN 0393326284

External links

*cite web
last = Nishida
first = Hiroshi
url = http://homepage2.nifty.com/nishidah/e/px36.htm#v007
title = Imperial Japanese Navy, Takahashi, Ibo
accessdate = 2007-08-25
*cite web
last = Kleman
first =
url = http://www.geocities.com/dutcheastindies/takahashi.html
title = Vice Admiral Ibo Takahashi
accessdate = 2007-08-25

Notes