Gunichi Mikawa

Gunichi Mikawa (三川 軍一, Mikawa Gun'ichi; 29 August 1888 – 25 February 1981) was a vice admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during World War II. Mikawa was the commander of a heavy cruiser force that defeated the United States Navy (USN) and the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) at the Battle of Savo Island in Ironbottom Sound on the night of 8–9 August 1942.

In this battle, his squadron of cruisers, plus one destroyer, sank three USN cruisers, plus the RAN heavy cruiser HMAS Canberra; Mikawa's force suffered no losses in the actual battle, although heavy cruiser Kako was sunk by the undetected American submarine S-44 on the return to their base near Rabaul in the Bismarck Archipelago. However, his later career was of mixed success, and he was reassigned to lesser posts after the loss of a troop convoy destined for New Guinea. After the war Mikawa retired back to Japan, where he died in 1981 at the age of 92.

Mikawa was a native of Hiroshima prefecture. He graduated from the 38th class of the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy in 1910, ranked third of his class of 149 cadets. After midshipman service in the cruisers Asama and Soya, and battleships Satsuma and Kongō, he attended Naval Torpedo and Gunnery Schools from 1913–1914. In late 1914, he joined the cruiser Aso for World War I duty, including a cruise to China. This was followed by tours in the destroyer Sugi and transport Seito and studies at the Japanese Naval War College.

From 1919 to 1920, Lieutenant Mikawa was attached to the Japanese delegation to the post-war Versailles Peace Treaty Conference in France. During the 1920s, Mikawa served as chief navigator on a number of ships, including the battleship Haruna and cruisers Tatsuta, Ikoma, and Aso. He was subsequently an instructor at the Naval Torpedo School and held several other highly visible posts. At the end of the decade, Commander Mikawa was part of the delegation to the London Naval Treaty and shortly thereafter became naval attaché in Paris. Promoted to the rank of captain in late 1930, he returned to Japan to take up administrative and training duties.

He was commanding officer of the heavy cruisers Aoba and Chōkai and the battleship Kirishima in the mid-1930s. Mikawa was promoted to rear admiral on 1 December 1936.

From 1 December 1936 to 15 November 1937, he was chief of staff of the IJN 2nd Fleet. Mikawa had duty with the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff and Imperial General Headquarters from 1937 to 1939, then went to sea again to command a succession of fleet squadrons, first in cruisers and then in battleships. He was promoted to vice admiral on 15 November 1940.

At the time of the Attack on Pearl Harbor, Mikawa was in command of Battleship Division 3 (BatDiv 3). He personally led the first section of his division as part of the screening force for the Pearl Harbor attack force, while the remaining battleships were sent south to cover the landings of Japanese troops in Malaya. Mikawa likewise led from the front during the Indian Ocean Raid and the Battle of Midway.

From 14 July 1942 to 1 April 1943, Mikawa commanded the newly formed IJN 8th Fleet in the South Pacific Ocean, based primarily at the major bases at Rabaul on the island of New Britain and Kavieng on New Ireland. During that time, he led Japanese naval forces involved in the Guadalcanal campaign and the Solomon Islands Campaign. On the night of 8 to 9 August 1942, Mikawa commanded a force of heavy cruisers, plus one destroyer, that heavily defeated the U.S. Navy warship force, plus one Royal Australian Navy cruiser, in the Battle of Savo Island in Ironbottom Sound off Guadalcanal.