IJN 5th Fleet

The nihongo|IJN 5th Fleet|第五艦隊 (日本海軍)|Dai-go Kantai was a fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy, active during the early portions of the Second Sino-Japanese War, and again in World War II, primarily in the Battle of the Aleutian Islands.

History

China Expeditionary Fleet

The IJN 5th Fleet was initially formed on 1 February 1938 as part of the Japanese military emergency expansion program in the aftermath of the North China Incident of 1937. The initial plan was to construct 3rd, 4th and 5th China Area Fleets to cover the invasions of Japanese troops into the Chinese mainland, and to interdict and control commerce on the coasts. The IJN 4th and IJN 5th Fleets came under the operational control of the 2nd China Expeditionary Fleet. It participated in the Hainan Island Operation and other maritime interdiction operations off of the Chinese coast. The fleet was disbanded on 15 November 1939 when its operations were merged into the China Area Fleet.

North Pacific Fleet

The IJN 5th Fleet was resurrected on 25 July 1941, and tasked with patrols of northern Japanese waters from the northern portion of Honshū, through Hokkaidō, the Chishima Islands, and as far as the Bonin Islands to the east. With the threat of maritime invasion by the Soviet Union considered extremely remote, and with Japanese forces focused on attacking south "(Nanshin-ron)", the IJN 5th Fleet was considered of secondary importance and was only assigned a couple of light cruisers and smaller vessels. [Dull, Battle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy ]

With the outbreak of World War II, and the Doolittle raid on Tokyo, the IJN 5th Fleet was reinforced by a large number of converted armed merchant vessels. The operational plan for the Battle of Midway called for a diversionary strike north towards the Aleutian Islands. The cruisers of the IJN 5th Fleet covered the landings of Japanese troops on Attu and Kiska on 6 June-7 1942, and were in the Battle of the Komandorski Islands against the United States Navy on 27 March 1943. [D'Albas, Death of a Navy ]

However, the IJN 5th Fleet was unable to prevent the recapture of Attu by American forces in May 1943, and from 5 August 1943 – 5 December 1944, the IJN 5th Fleet was reorganized under the operational control of the Northeast Area Fleet, which oversaw the withdrawal of Japanese forces from Kiska and reinforcement of the northern approaches to Japan.

Following Japan's withdrawal from the Aleutians, the Northeast Area Fleet was reassigned directly to the Philippines in October 1944. It participated in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, and surviving vessels were joined to the Southeast Area Fleet on 15 December 1944. On 5 February 1945, the Southeast Area Fleet became the IJN 10th Area Fleet, at which time the remnants of the IJN 5th Fleet's administrative structure were disbanded.

tructure

In Second Sino-Japanese War

*Cruiser Division 9
**"Myōko"
**"Nagara"
*Cruiser Division 10
**"Tenryū"
**"Tatsuta"
*No.5 Torpedo Squadron
**"Yubari"
**3 destroyer squadrons
*No.3 Aviation Squadron
**Seaplane tender "Kamoi"
**Seaplane tender "Kagu-maru"
**Seaplane tender "Kamikawa-maru"
*No.4 Aviation Squadron
**Seaplane tender "Notoro"
**Seaplane tender "Kinugasa-maru"

Order of Battle at time of Pearl Harbor

*Cruiser Division 21 (Based at Ominato) [Budge, Pacific War Online Encyclopedia]
** Light cruiser "Tama"
** Light cruiser "Kiso"
** Seaplane tender "Kimikawa maru" (based at Paramushiro)
*Cruiser Division 22
** Converted MV "Akagi maru"
** Converted MV "Asaka maru"
** Converted MV "Awata maru"
*Minesweeper Division 17
*Gunboat Division 10
*Subchaser Division 66
*No.7 Base Force
*Chichijima Naval Air Group

Commanders of the IJN 5th Fleet

Commander in chief [Nishida, Imperial Japanese Navy]

Chief of Staff [Wendel, Axis History]

References

Books

*cite book
last = D'Albas
first = Andrieu
authorlink =
year = 1965
title = Death of a Navy: Japanese Naval Action in World War II
publisher = Devin-Adair Pub
location =
id = ISBN 0-8159-5302-X
*cite book
last = Dull
first = Paul S.
authorlink =
year = 1978
title = A Battle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1941-1945
publisher = Naval Institute Press
location =
id = ISBN 0-87021-097-1
*cite book
last = Garfield
first = Brian
authorlink = Brian Garfield
coauthors =
year = 1995
title = The Thousand Mile War
publisher = Aurum Press
location =
id = ISBN 1-84513-019-7
*cite book
last = Lacroix
first = Eric
authorlink =
coauthors = Linton Wells
year = 1997
title = Japanese Cruisers of the Pacific War
publisher = Naval Institute Press
location =
id = ISBN 0-87021-311-3

External links

*cite web
last = Nishida
first = Hiroshi
url = http://homepage2.nifty.com/nishidah/e/ja03.htm#5F
title = Imperial Japanese Navy
accessdate = 2007-08-25
*cite web
last = Budge
first = Kent
url = http://pwencycl.kgbudge.com/J/a/Japanese_5_Fleet.html
title = Pacific War Online Encyclopedia
accessdate = 2007-08-25
*cite web
last = Wendel
first = Marcus
url = http://www.axishistory.com/index.php?id=7823
title = Axis History Online Encyclopedia
accessdate = 2007-08-25

Notes