User:Hobbies.nes/Tadaichi Hara

Tadaichi Hara [or is it] Chūichi Hara
Admiral Hara Tadaichi ??? spelling ??? (1900-1964) was commander of Carrier Division 5 (Zuikaku and Shokaku) in the attack on Pearl Harbor.

?? this may not be the right HARA?? He later wrote of the attack that it “did not fit any thinking that I knew to be right,” believing that “we won a great tactical victory at Pearl Harbor, and thereby lost the war.” Historians have largely come to share this view.

Hara’s carriers fought at Coral Sea, where he found himself under the command of his close friend Takagi Takeo, but the carriers suffered sufficient aircrew attrition and combat damage that they were not present at the disastrous Battle of Midway. Hara flew his flag from the Ryujo in the battle of the Eastern Solomons, where it was sunk. Following the battle, Hara was posted back to Japan to a training command.

In February of 1944, Hara was made commander of 4th Fleet at Truk, but his command became increasingly irrelevant as the Mandates were bypassed by the Allies. He remained at this post until the end of the war.

Like almost every other Japanese carrier commander of the war, Hara was not an aviator, but he had a flexible mind and had commanded carriers long enough by the time the war broke out to have some familiarity with their strengths and weaknesses. He had drawn some wrath to himself by opposing the escalation of hostilities in China between 1938 and 1940 and refusing to broadcast inflammatory Army dispatches over his ship’s radio. Hara occasionally drank to excess, and his behavior while drunk as well as his heavy build may have accounted for his nickname, “King Kong.”

Service record

1911-07-18 Midshipman, graduated from Naval Academy, assigned to CA Aso

1912-03-29 Midshipman, BC Ibuki

1912-12-01 Ensign, BB Settsu

1913-12-01 Ensign, CA Akashi

1914-12-01 Lieutenant junior grade, Torpedo School Basic Course

1915-05-26 Lieutenant junior grade, Gunnery School Basic Course

1915-12-13 Lieutenant junior grade, DD Asakaze

1916-09-01 Lieutenant junior grade, CA Yakumo

1917-09-10 Lieutenant junior grade, Kongo

1917-12-01 Lieutenant junior grade, Submarine Division 3

1918-12-01 Lieutenant, Torpedo School Advanced Course

1919-12-01 Lieutenant, Torpedo School Specialist Course

1920-12-01 Lieutenant, Hakaze

1921-11-01 Lieutenant, Yukaze

1922-12-01 Lieutenant, Oi

1923-11-10 Lieutenant, Instructor, Torpedo School

1924-12-01 Lieutenant commander, Naval College A Course

1926-12-01 Lieutenant commander, Tsuga

1927-12-01 Lieutenant commander, Staff, 2nd Fleet

1928-12-10 Lieutenant commander, Staff, Destroyer Squadron 1

1929-11-30 Commander, Instructor, Torpedo and Gunnery Schools

1932-12-01 Commander, Ataka

1933-10-20 Lieutenant commander, Staff, Cruiser Division 11

1933-11-15 Captain

1933-12-20 Trip to Europe and United States

1934-11-01 Captain, Commander, Tatsuta

1935-11-15 Captain, Chief of staff, Ryojun Guard District

1937-12-01 Captain, Staff, Naval Shipbuilding Command

1938-09-15 Captain, Staff, 5th Fleet

1939-03-10 Captain, Inspector, Asian Development Agency

1939-11-15 Read admiral, Chief of staff, 2nd China Fleet

1941-08-13 Read admiral, Staff, 1st Air Fleet

1941-09-01 Read admiral, Commander, Carrier Division 5

1942-07-14 Read admiral, Commander, Cruiser Division 8

1942-11-01 Vice admiral

1943-03-15 Vice admiral, Navy General Staff

1943-05-18 Vice admiral, Commander, 11th Combined Air Group

1944-02-19 Vice admiral, Commander, 4th Fleet

Refernces:

tbd...