title: Imperial Japanese Navy order of battle 1941
text: # 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)
  