The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia
|
| Previous: Ito Kenzo | Table of Contents | Next: Ito Setsu |
Ito Seiichi was born in Fukuoka prefecture and
graduated from the Japanese Naval
Academy
in 1911. He graduated from the Naval Staff College in 1923 and held
several cruiser commands. During
the 1920s he attended Yale University in the United States,
and served as assistant naval
attaché under Yamamoto. During this tour of duty, he became well acquainted with Ray Spruance, who was then serving as assistant chief of naval intelligence.
At the outbreak of war, he was a vice admiral and vice chief of staff of the Navy General Staff, and quite accurately estimated during pre-war planning that the Japanese offensive in Southeast Asia would take six to eight months to be completed. He initially opposed the Midway operation, but reversed himself when Yamamoto put his prestige behind the operation.
Ito continued to fill staff
assignments until November 1944,
when he relieved Kurita
as commander of 2
Fleet. Under prodding from the Emperor,
and in spite of his own opposition to suicide tactics, Ito sailed
with the Yamato
on its suicide mission to
Okinawa in May
of 1945. He chose to go down with
the
ship, locking himself in his cabin when it became clear the ship was doomed, after giving a final order to the surviving escorts to rescue survivors and return to Japan.
Ito has been described as a superb naval officer,
a moderate who was approachable in demeanor. Fukudome told Prange (1981)
that Ito was "a steady man, a thorough worker and deep thinker. He was
considered an excellent officer with a good future. He lacked only one
thing — aggressiveness and a fighting spirit."
| 1890-7-26 | Born in Fukuoka prefecture |
|
| 1911-7-18 | Midshipman | Graduates from Naval Academy, standing 15th in a class of 148. Assigned to CL Aso |
| 1912-3-29 | BB Aki |
|
| 1912-12-1 | Ensign | CL Yahagi |
| 1913-12-1 | Torpedo School Basic Course | |
| 1914-5-27 | Gunnery School Basic Course | |
| 1914-12-1 | Lieutenant junior grade |
CL Soya |
| 1915-8-23 | BC Ikoma |
|
| 1916-4-1 | DD Kikuzuki |
|
| 1917-7-2 | 3 Naval District |
|
| 1917-12-1 | Lieutenant | Naval College B-Course |
| 1918-4-15 | Torpedo School Advanced Course | |
| 1918-12-1 | DD Nara |
|
| 1920-3-15 | DD Umikaze |
|
| 1920-5-6 | CL Iwate |
|
| 1921-4-20 | DD Shiokaze |
|
| 1921-12-1 | Naval College A-Course | |
| 1923-10-15 | Staff, Cruiser
Division 5 |
|
| 1923-12-1 | Lieutenant
commander |
|
| 1924-12-1 | Kasumigaura
Air Group |
|
| 1925-3-2 | Navy General Staff |
|
| 1927-5-1 | Resident in United States |
|
| 1927-12-1 | Commander | |
| 1929-7-10 | Instructor, Naval Academy | |
| 1931-12-1 | Captain | AO Tsurumi |
| 1932-3-8 | Resident in China | |
| 1932-9-15 | Resident in Manchuria | |
| 1933-4-1 | Member, Manchuria Expeditionary Force | |
| 1933-11-15 |
CL Kiso |
|
| 1934-4-1 | Chief, S1, Bureau of Personnel, Navy
Ministry |
|
| 1935-11-15 | Commander, CA Mogami | |
| 1936-4-15 | Commander, CA Atago |
|
| 1936-12-1 | Commander, BB Haruna |
|
| 1937-11-15 | Chief of staff, 2 Fleet |
|
| 1937-12-1 | Rear admiral |
|
| 1938-12-15 | Director, Bureau of Personnel, Navy Ministry |
|
| 1940-11-28 | Commander, Cruiser Division 8 |
|
| 1941-4-10 | Chief of staff, Combined Fleet |
|
| 1941-9-1 | Vice chief, Navy
General Staff |
|
| 1941-10-15 | Vice admiral |
|
| 1944-12-23 | Commander, 2
Fleet |
|
| 1945-4-7 | Admiral | Killed in action |
References
Materials of IJN (accessed 2008-4-1)
The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia © 2007-2009, 2011, 2013-2014 by Kent G. Budge. Index
