Nobutake Kondō

Japan state institutions Counter-revolutionary forces 1886–1953 ○ Died

Commander of the Second Fleet who led the Midway occupation force and lost the battleship Kirishima off Guadalcanal

A native of Osaka, he graduated first in his naval academy class in 1907 and served as naval attaché in Britain and aide-de-camp to Crown Prince Hirohito. He was Combined Fleet chief of staff in 1935 and led the 5th Fleet in the Hainan Island operation of the war with China. At the start of the Pacific War he commanded the Second Fleet in the invasions of Malaya, the Philippines and the Dutch East Indies and the Indian Ocean raid, and was regarded as second only to Yamamoto. At Midway he led the occupation force and covering group, which never came into action. In the Guadalcanal campaign he fought at the Eastern Solomons and Santa Cruz, and on the second night of the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal in November 1942 led the battleship Kirishima to shell Henderson Field but was defeated by American battleships. Sidelined afterwards, he commanded the China Area Fleet.

Also known as: Nobutake Kondo