Northeast Area Fleet

The Northeast Area Fleet (北東方面艦隊 Hokutō Hōmen Kantai) was a fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy established during World War II.

History

The Northeast Area Fleet was a short-lived operational headquarters of the Imperial Japanese Navy, established on August 5, 1943. As United States Navy forces had driven the Japanese out of the Aleutian Islands in late 1943 to early 1944, an organizational structure was required to coordinate Japan’s northern defenses against the possibility that the United States would extend operations from the Aleutians into the Chishima Islands, Karafuto and to northern Japan itself. The new Northeast Area Fleet was a combined operational command containing surviving elements of the IJN 5th Fleet, IJN 12th Air Fleet and ground elements.[1] As it became eventually evident that the United States had no intention of using the northern approaches to Japan as an invasion route, gradually most of its forces were reassigned to other theaters of the war. The Northeast Area Fleet itself was disbanded on December 5, 1944.

Transition

Date Higher unit Lower units
5 August 1943 (original) Combined Fleet 5th Fleet, 12th Air Fleet
1 April 1944 5th Fleet, 12th Air Fleet, 22nd Cruiser Division, Chishima Area Base Force
15 August 1944 5th Fleet, 12th Air Fleet, Chishima Area Base Force
5 December 1944 disbanded

Commanders of the IJN Northern Area Fleet

Commander in chief [2]

Rank Name Date Additional post
1 Vice Admiral Michitaro Totsuka August 5, 1943 - September 15, 1944 Commander of the 12th Air Fleet
2 Vice Admiral Eiji Goto September 15, 1944 – December 5, 1944

Chief of staff

Rank Name Date Additional post
1 Rear-Admiral Yoshiyuki Ichimiya August 5, 1942 – December 5, 1944 Chief of staff of the 12th Air Fleet

Notes

  1. D'Albas, Death of a Navy
  2. Wendel, Axis History Database

References

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