5th Fleet (Imperial Japanese Navy)

The 5th Fleet (第五艦隊, 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 Aleutian campaign, during which it was augmented and designated the Northern Area Force.

5th Fleet
Active1 February 1938 – 5 February 1945
Country
Branch Imperial Japanese Navy
Battle honoursPacific Theatre of World War II
Commanders
Notable
commanders		Nobutake Kondō

History

Second Sino-Japanese War

The 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 4th and 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 the Chinese coast. The fleet was disbanded on 15 November 1939 when its operations were merged into the China Area Fleet.

World War II

The 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.[1]

With the outbreak of World War II, and the Doolittle raid on Tokyo, the 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 5th Fleet – designated the "Northern Area Force" after its augmentation for the operation[2] – covered the landings of Japanese troops on Attu and Kiska on 6–7 June 1942, and were in the Battle of the Komandorski Islands against the United States Navy on 27 March 1943.[3]

However, the IJN 5th Fleet was unable to prevent the recapture of Attu by American forces in May 1943, and – after the abolition of the Northern Area Force on 4–5 August 1943[4] – from 5 August 1943 to 5 December 1944, the 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 5th Fleet's administrative structure were disbanded.

Structure

In Second Sino-Japanese War

Order of Battle at time of Pearl Harbor
  • Cruiser Division 21 (Based at Ōminato)[5]
  • Cruiser Division 22 (based at Kushiro)
    • Auxiliary cruiser Akagi Maru, Asaka Maru, Awata Maru
  • Gunboat Division 10
  • Subchaser Division 66
    • Auxiliary subchaser Fumi Maru, No.2 Seki Maru,
    • Auxiliary netlayer Kōgi Maru
  • Minesweeper Division 17
    • Auxiliary minesweeper No.5 Toshi Maru, No.8 Toshi Maru, Keinan Maru, No.11 Misago Maru
  • Patrol division 7
    • Support craft Hokuyō-Gō, Auxiliary support craft No.1 Sasayama Maru
    • 1st Platoon
    • 2nd Platoon
      • Auxiliary patrol boat No.3 Yachiyo Maru, No.23 Toku Maru, No.1 Fuku Maru
    • 3rd Platoon
      • Auxiliary patrol boat Eikichi Maru, No.3 Shōsei Maru, Shōei Maru, No.2 Taihei Maru
    • 4th Platoon
      • Auxiliary patrol boat No.5 Ebisu Maru, No.2 Kaihō Maru, Kaijin Maru
    • 5th Platoon
      • Auxiliary patrol boat No.1 Nittō Maru, No.2 Nittō Maru, No.23 Nittō Maru
    • 6th Platoon
      • Auxiliary patrol boat No.25 Nittō Maru, Kōki Maru, Fuji Maru
  • No.7 Base Force (based at Chichi-jima)
  • Chichijima Naval Air Group
  • Direct control from headquarter of the fleet
    • Torpedo boat Sagi, Hato
  • Attached ships for the fleet

Order of Battle at time of Operation Cottage
5th Fleet in May 1943
  • Cruiser Division 21 (based at Horomushiro)
  • Cruiser Division 22
    • Auxiliary cruiser Akagi Maru, Asaka Maru, Awata Maru
  • Cruiser Destroyer Squadron 1 (based at Horomushiro)
    • Light cruiser Abukuma
    • Destroyer Division 2 (This division was detached from CruDesron 4.)
    • Destroyer Division 6 (This division was detached from CruDesron 11.)
    • Destroyer Division 9
    • Destroyer Division 10 (This division was detached from CruDesron 10.)
    • Destroyer Division 21 (Shimakaze was detached from CruDesron 2.)
    • Destroyer Division 31 (This division was detached from CruDesron 2.)
  • No.51 Special Base Force (based at Kiska)
  • Attached ships for the fleet

Order of Battle at time of Leyte Gulf
  • Cruiser Division 16 (They did not participate in the naval battle, because it was commanded to do transportation duty.)
  • Cruiser Division 21
    • Heavy cruiser Nachi (Flagship), Ashigara
    • Light cruiser Tama (She was lent to the 3rd Fleet.)
    • Light cruiser Kiso (She did not participate in the naval battle, because it was commanded to do transportation duty.)
  • Cruiser Destroyer Squadron 1

Order of Battle at time of Mindoro

Commanders of the 5th Fleet

1st Creation

[6]

Commander-in-ChiefDatesPrevious PostNext PostNotes
1Vice-Admiral
Shiozawa Kōichi
塩沢幸一		1 February
1938		15 December
1938		Attendant
Navy General Staff		Director
Navy Technical Bureau
2Vice-Admiral
Kondō Nobutake
近藤信竹		15 December
1938		29 September
1939		Attendant
Navy General Staff
3Vice-Admiral
Takasu Shirō
高須四郎		29 September
1939		15 November
1939		Headmaster
Naval War College		Commander-in-chief
2nd China Expeditionary Fleet

On 15 November 1939 the 5th Fleet was reorganized into the 2nd China Expeditionary Fleet. Command History continues there.

2nd Creation
RankNameDate
4Vice-AdmiralBoshirō Hosogaya25 July 1941 – 31 March 1943
5Vice-AdmiralShiro Kawase31 March 1943 – 15 February 1944
6Vice-AdmiralKiyohide Shima15 February 1944 – 5 February 1945

Chief of Staff [7]

RankNameDate
1Vice-AdmiralMinoru Tayui1 February 1938 – 15 December 1938
2Vice-AdmiralTamon Yamaguchi15 December 1938 – 15 November 1939
3Vice-AdmiralTasuku Nakazawa25 July 1941 – 6 November 1942
4Rear-AdmiralYoshiyuki Ichimiya6 November 1942 – 19 March 1943
5Rear-AdmiralNoboru Owada10 March 1943 – 17 November 1943
6Rear-AdmiralTakeshi Matsumoto17 November 1943 – 5 February 1945

References

Notes
  1. Dull, Battle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy
  2. Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Volume IV: Coral Sea, Midway and Submarine Actions, May 1942-August 1942, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, p. 169n.
  3. D'Albas, Death of a Navy
  4. Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Volume VII: Aleutians, Gilberts, and Marshalls, June 1942-April 1944, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1984, p. 65n.
  5. Budge, Pacific War Online Encyclopedia
  6. Nishida, Imperial Japanese Navy
  7. Wendel, Axis History

Books
  • D'Albas, Andrieu (1965). Death of a Navy: Japanese Naval Action in World War II. Devin-Adair Pub. ISBN 0-8159-5302-X.
  • Dull, Paul S. (1978). A Battle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1941-1945. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-097-1.
  • Garfield, Brian (1995). The Thousand Mile War. Aurum Press. ISBN 1-84513-019-7.
  • Lacroix, Eric; Linton Wells (1997). Japanese Cruisers of the Pacific War. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-311-3.
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