IJN 4th Fleet

The nihongo|IJN 4th Fleet|第四艦隊 (日本海軍)|Dai-yon Kantai was a fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy, which was created on three separate occasions.

History

Russo-Japanese War

First established on 14 June 1905, the IJN 4th Fleet was created after the Battle of Tsushima in the Russo-Japanese War specifically to support and cover the landings of Japanese forces in Sakhalin. Afterwards, it was sent to the United States with the Japanese delegation negotiating the Treaty of Portsmouth ending the war, and was disbanded on 20 December 1905.

econd Sino-Japanese War

On 20 October 1937, the IJN 4th Fleet was resurrected as part of the emergency reinforcement program for the China Area Fleet after the North China Incident of 1937. The new IJN 4th fleet was based out of Tsingtao and assigned to patrol the Bohai Sea and the East China Sea regions. However, unlike the IJN 5th Fleet, the IJN 4th Fleet was never in actual combat. On 15 November 1939, the IJN 4th Fleet was absorbed into the 3rd China Expeditionary Fleet under the overall aegis of the China Area Fleet. Although most of its ships were released for service with the Combined Fleet in the Pacific War a year later, most of the staff for the IJN 4th Fleet remained in China, and were assigned to the Tsingtao Base Force for the duration of the war.

Pacific War

On the same date at that the IJN 4th Fleet was absorbed into the China Area Fleet, a new IJN 4th Fleet was created to provide administrative control over Japanese naval forces in the Japanese-held island territories of the South Pacific (Caroline Islands, Marshall Islands, Mariana Islands, Palau). This third IJN 4th Fleet came under the aegis of the Combined Fleet on 15 November 1940. With the start of hostilities against the United States, the IJN 4th Fleet was based out of Truk, with a secondary base at Kwajalein. After initial Japanese successes, additional bases were established in the southern Philippines, Guam, Wake Island, Gilbert Islands, eastern New Guinea, Bismarck Archipelago and the Solomon Islands. After the Battle of the Coral Sea, the area covered by the IJN 4th Fleet was reduced to an “inner core” of Japanese possessions, while the new IJN 8th Fleet was assigned to confront the advancing American forces in the Solomon Islands and New Guinea. However, in November 1943, the Americans attacked the Gilbert Islands and captured the major naval base of Tarawa, which brought the IJN 4th Fleet and its various garrison forces back into the front lines of combat.

The Americans continued to advance through the Gilbert and Marshall islands in early 1944, capturing the IJN 4th Fleet HQ in Truk in February, and pushing the surviving units back to Palau, which also proved vulnerable to air attack.

In March 1944, the IJN 4th Fleet came under operational control of the Central Pacific Area Fleet based in Saipan. It effectively ceased to exist with the fall of Saipan to American forces. [D'Albas, the Death of a Navy]

tructure

Russo-Japanese War

*Cruiser Division 7 ("Chinen", "Iki", "Okinoshima", "Mishima")
*Cruiser Division 8 ("Itsukushima", "Hashidate", "Matsushima")
*Cruiser Division 9 ("Chokai", "Maya", "Akagi", "Uji", Destroyer Divisions 1, 10, 11, 15 and 20)
*Auxiliaries: Manshu, Tanan-maru.

econd Sino-Japanese War

*Flagship: "Ashigara"
*Cruiser Division 9: "Myōkō", "Nagara"
*Cruiser Division 14: "Tenryū", "Tatsuta"
*No.4 Torpedo Squadron: "Kiso",
**Destroyer Division 6
**Destroyer Division 10
**Destroyer Division 11
*No.5 Torpedo Squadron: "Natori"
**Destroyer Division 5
**Destroyer Division 22

Order of Battle at time of Pearl Harbor

*Flagship: "Kashima"
*Cruiser Division 18 (Wake Invasion Task Force, based at Kwajalein)
**"Tenryū"
**"Tatsuta"
**Converted MV "Kongo Maru"
**Converted MV "Kinryu Maru"
**Destroyer Squadron 6 (partial)
***"Yubari"
***Destroyer Division 29 ("Hayate", "Oite")
***Destroyer Division 30 ("Kisaragi", "Mochitsuki", "Mutsuki", "Yayoi")
**Maizuru 2nd SNLF
*Minesweeper Division 19 (Gilbert Island Invasion Task Force)
**Tennyo-maru
**"Tokiwa" (converted to minelayer)
**"Okinoshima" (converted to minelayer)
**"Tsugaru" (conveted to minelayer)
**Destroyer Squadron 6 (partial)
***Destroyer Division 29 ("Asamage", "Umage")
*Submarine Squadron 7 (based at Kwajalein)
** Submarine tender "Jinkei"
*** Submarine Division 26
***Submarine Division 27
***Submarine Division 28
*No.3 Base Force (Palau)
*No.4 Base Force (Truk)
*No.5 Base Force (Saipan)
*No.6 Base Force (Kwajalein)
*No.24 Air Fleet
**Seaplane tender "Kiyokawa maru"
**Seaplane tender "Goshu maru"
**Seaplane tender "Kamoi"
**Yokohama Air Group
**Chitose Air Group

Commanders of the IJN 4th Fleet

Commander in chief [Wendel, Axis History Database]

Chief of Staff

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 = 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#4F
title = Imperial Japanese Navy
accessdate = 2007-02-25
*cite web
last = Wendel
first =
url = http://www.axishistory.com/index.php?id=7822
title = Axis History Database
accessdate = 2007-08-25

Notes