Imperial Japanese Navy order of battle 1941
# Imperial Japanese Navy order of battle 1941

## Order of battle

### Warships

IJN at time of Pearl Harbor Attack in December 1941:

**Battleships**

* 10 (plus 3 building) (1)
   * 4 Kongō class — converted from battlecruisers. Built in 1913–1915.
      * Kongō — †November, 1944
      * Hiei — †November, 1942
      * Kirishima — †November, 1942
      * Haruna — †July, 1945
   * 2 Fusō class — built 1915-1917
      * Fusō — †October, 1944
      * Yamashiro — †October, 1944
   * 2 Ise class — built 1917-1918
      * Ise — †July, 1945
      * Hyūga — run aground in July, 1945
   * 2 Nagato class — built 1920-1921
      * Nagato
      * Mutsu — †June, 1943
   * 0 Yamato class (3 building (1 converted to aircraft carrier Shinano) and 1 cancelled later in 1941).
      * Yamato — commissioned 1941, † 1945
      * Musashi — commissioned 1942, † 1944
      * The fourth of the class, Hull Number 111 was scrapped in 1942 when only 30% complete, and a proposed fifth hull, Number 797, proposed in the 1942 5th Supplementary Program, was never ordered.

**Aircraft carriers**

* 6 heavy and 6 light (plus 7 building )(1)
   * Hōshō built in 1922
   * Akagi (2) (ex-battlecruiser converted by 1927) — †1942
   * Kaga (ex-battleship converted in 1928) — †1942
   * Ryūjō completed 1933 — †1942
   * Sōryū — †1942
   * Hiryū — †1942
   * 2 Zuihō class commissioned as aircraft carriers 1940-1941
      * Shōhō - †1942
      * Zuihō - †1944
   * 2 Shōkaku class built 1941
      * Shōkaku — †1944
      * Zuikaku — †1944
   * 3 Taiyō class
      * Taiyō — †1944
      * Chūyō — †1943
      * Unyō — †1944
   * 2 Hiyō class
      * Hiyō — †1944
      * Jun'yō
   * Shinano (ex-battleship converted in 1942–44) — †1944

    (1) Does not include Imperial Japanese Army built aircraft transports.
    (2) Amagi — sister ship to Akagi both as a battlecruiser and as a conversion to an aircraft carrier, was destroyed during construction by an earthquake and replaced with the Kaga.

**Heavy cruisers**

* 18 (plus 1 building) (1)
   * 2 Furutaka built 1926-1927
   * 2 Aoba built 1926-1927
   * 4 Myōkō built 1928-1929
   * 4 Takao built 1932
   * 4 Mogami built 1935-1937(2)
   * 2 Tone built 1941

(1) Ibuki ordered but not laid down (2) Mogamis designated light cruisers but were built to be up-gunned as heavies once the London Naval Treaty was broken.

**Light cruisers**

* 20 (plus 5 building) (1)
   * 2 Tenryū built 1919
   * 5 Kuma built 1920-1921
   * 1 Yubari built 1923
   * 3 Sendai built 1924-1925
   * 6 Nagara built 1922-1925
   * 3 Katori (1 cancelled) built 1938-1940

(1) 4 Agano and 2 Ōyodo (1 cancelled).

**Destroyers**

* 115 (plus 43 building) (1)
   * 3 Momi-class destroyer (3) built 1920-1922
   * 13 Minekaze-class destroyer built 1920-1922
   * 6 Wakatake-class destroyer built 1922-1923
   * 9 Kamikaze-class destroyer built 1922-1924
   * 12 Mutsuki-class destroyer built 1925-1927
   * 19 Fubuki-class destroyer built 1926-1933 (included Ayanami subclass)
   * 4 Akatsuki-class destroyer built 1932-1933 (subclass of Fubuki class)
   * 6 Hatsuharu-class destroyer built 1933-1935
   * 10 Shiratsuyu-class destroyer built 1936-1937
   * 10 Asashio-class destroyer built 1937-1938
   * 19 Kagerō-class destroyer built 1939
   * 4 Yūgumo-class destroyer built 1941

(1) 27 Yūgumo class and 16 Akizuki-class building (2) Others ships of the Momi-class were re-rated as patrol vessels. Also, note than Momi name was assigned in 1944 to a Matsu-class destroyer ship

**Submarines**

* 68 Fleet submarines
* 50 Ko-hyoteki-class midget submarines

**Others**

* 90 patrol ships, gunboats, armed merchant ships, and submarine chasers
* 6 minelayers
   * Itsukushima
* 42 minesweepers
* 55 auxiliaries

### Merchant ships

Many under direct navy control as armed merchantmen.

* 1939 - 2,337 with 5,629,845 tons
* World War II construction of 4,250,000 tons
* 2,346 sunk

## Aircraft

* Total 1750 first line with 370 trainers
   * 660 Fighters
   * 330 Carrier based strike aircraft
   * 240 Land-based twin engine bombers
   * 520 Seaplanes and flying boats.

## Commanders

Imperial Japanese Navy commanders at the time of the Attack on Pearl Harbor:

* Admiral Osami Nagano (Chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff)
* Admiral Shigetarō Shimada (Minister of the Navy)
* Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto (Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet)
* Rear Admiral Matome Ugaki (Chief-of-Staff of the Combined Fleet)
* Vice Admiral Chūichi Nagumo (Commander-in-Chief of the First Air Fleet)
* Rear Admiral Ryūnosuke Kusaka (Chief-of-Staff of the First Air Fleet)
* Vice Admiral Shirō Takasu (Commander-in-Chief of the 1st Fleet)
* Vice Admiral Nobutake Kondō (Commander-in-Chief of the 2nd Fleet)
* Vice Admiral Ibō Takahashi (Commander-in-Chief of the 3rd Fleet)
* Vice Admiral Shigeyoshi Inoue (Commander-in-Chief of the 4th Fleet)
* Vice Admiral Boshirō Hosogaya (Commander-in-Chief of the 5th Fleet)
* Vice Admiral Mitsumi Shimizu (Commander-in-Chief of the 6th Fleet)
