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Chiran Kamikaze Peace Museum
Arima Masafumi was born in Kagoshima prefecture
to a family of Confucian scholars. Graduating from the Naval Academy in
1915, he served on a large
number of ships early
in his career, and graduated from the Naval Staff
College in 1928. He became a naval
aviator in the early 1930s and
commanded naval air stations
just prior to war.
Arima became captain of the Shokaku on 25 May 1942 and participated in the Battle of Santa Cruz. Promoted to rear admiral in 1943, he was in command of 26 Air Flotilla in the Philippines at the time of the American invasion in 1944. He proposed that suicide tactics be employed, and personally led one of the first special attack missions after tearing off his rank insignia, on 26 October 1944. The mission accomplished nothing, but mistaken reports that a U.S. aircraft carrier had been sunk encouraged other commanders to follow a similar path.
Described as "slender, gentle, softspoken"
(Hastings 2007), and as "the picture of dignity" (Inoguchi et al. 1958) who wore his full uniform even in the tropics, he seemed an unlikely candidate to usher in the most
desperate tactic used by the Japanese
during the war.
| 1895-9-25 | born | |
| 1915-12-16 |
Midshipman |
Graduates from Naval Academy, standing 33rd in a class of 95. Assigned to Iwate |
| 1916-8-22 | BB Shikishima | |
| 1916-12-1 | Ensign | |
| 1917-9-10 | CL Iwate | |
| 1918-11-1 | DD Uzuki | |
| 1918-12-1 | Lieutenant junior
grade |
|
| 1919-1-18 | BB Suwo | |
| 1919-12-1 | Torpedo School Basic Course | |
| 1920-5-31 | Gunnery School Basic Course | |
| 1920-12-1 | BB Kongo | |
| 1921-12-1 | Lieutenant | Gunner School Advanced Course |
| 1922-12-1 | DD Ashi | |
| 1923-12-1 | CL Idzumo | |
| 1925-4-15 | BB Hiei | |
| 1926-12-1 | Naval College A-Course | |
| 1927-12-1 | Lieutenant commander |
|
| 1928-12-10 | BB Haruna | |
| 1929-9-5 | Staff, 3 Naval District |
|
| 1931-8-20 | AC Asama | |
| 1932-11-15 | Staff, Cruiser Divison 3 |
|
| 1933-5-20 | Staff, Cruiser Division 7 |
|
| 1933-11-15 | Commander | |
| 1934-11-15 | Instructor, Naval College | |
| 1937-7-11 | Staff, Cruiser Division 10 |
|
| 1937-10-20 | Staff, Cruiser Division 14 |
|
| 1937-12-1 | Captain | Commander, AV Kamikawa Maru |
| 1938-9-1 | Commander, Sasebo
Air Group |
|
| 1938-12-15 | Commander, Kisarazu Air Group |
|
| 1939-11-15 | Commander, Yokohama Air Group |
|
| 1941-4-17 | Executive officer, Yokosuka
Air Group |
|
| 1942-5-10 | 1 Naval District |
|
| 1942-5-25 | Commander, CV Shokaku | |
| 1943-2-16 | Chief, Bureau of Education, Naval Air
Command |
|
| 1943-5-1 | Rear admiral |
|
| 1944-4-1 | Staff, Central
Pacific Area Fleet |
|
| 1944-4-9 | Commander, 26 Air
Flotilla |
|
| 1944-10-26 | Vice admiral |
Killed
in action |
References
Inoguchi, Nakajima, and Pineau (1958)
Materials of IJN (accessed 2007-4-27)
The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia © 2007-2008, 2011-2012 by Kent G. Budge. Index
