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Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff

The Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff (軍令部, Gunreibu) was the highest organ within the Imperial Japanese Navy. In charge of planning and operations, it was headed by an Admiral headquartered in Tokyo.

History[edit]

Created in 1893, the Navy General Staff took over operational (as opposed to administrative) authority over the Imperial Japanese Navy from the Navy Ministry. It was responsible for the planning and execution of national defense strategy. Through the Imperial General Headquarters it reported directly to the Emperor, not to the Prime Minister, National Diet or even the Navy Ministry. It was always headed by an admiral on active duty, and was based in Tokyo.

"The ministry was responsible for the naval budget, ship construction, weapons procurement, personnel, relations with the Diet and the cabinet and broad matters of naval policy. The General Staff directed the operations of the fleet and the preparation of war plans".^[1]

After the Washington Naval Conference of 1921–22, where Japan agreed to keep the size of its fleet smaller than that of the United Kingdom and the United States, the Imperial Japanese Navy became divided into the mutually hostile Fleet Faction and Treaty Faction political cliques. The Navy Ministry tended to be pro-Treaty Faction and was anxious to maintain the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. However the Navy General Staff came to be dominated by the Fleet faction, and gradually gained ascendancy in the 1930s with increasing Japanese militarism. The Navy General Staff pushed through the attack on Pearl Harbor against the wishes of the more diplomatic Navy Ministry.

After 1937, both the Navy Minister and the Chief of the Navy General Staff were members of the Imperial General Headquarters.

With the defeat of the Empire of JapaninWorld War II, the Navy General Staff was abolished together with the Imperial Japanese Navy by the American occupation authorities in November 1945 and was not revived by the post-war Constitution of Japan.

Organization[edit]

The General Staff was organized as follows:

• 1st Department: Operations Bureau
  • 1st Section: Operations
  • 2nd Section: Training
• 2nd Department: Weapons and Mobilization Bureau
  • 3rd Section: Weapons
  • 4th Section: Mobilization
• 3rd Department: Intelligence Bureau
  • 5th Section: Intelligence for America
  • 6th Section: Intelligence for China
  • 7th Section: Intelligence for Soviet Union
  • 8th Section: Intelligence for UK and Europe
• 4th Department: Communications Bureau
  • 9th Section: Communications
  • 10th Section: Cryptography

Chiefs of the General Staff[edit]

See also[edit]

• Ministry of the Navy (Japan)

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

Bibliography[edit]

• Asada, Sadao (2006). From Mahan to Pearl Harbor: The Imperial Japanese Navy and the United States. US Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-042-8.
• Schencking, J. Charles (2005). Making Waves: Politics, Propaganda, And The Emergence Of The Imperial Japanese Navy, 1868-1922. Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-4977-9.
• Spector, Ronald (1985). Eagle Against the Sun. New York: Vintage Books. ISBN 0-394-74101-3.

External links[edit]

• "Foreign Office Files for Japan and the Far East". Adam Matthew Publications. Accessed 2 March 2005.