The Disappearance of Admiral Koga
31 MARCH-1 APRIL 1944
THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ADMIRAL KOGA
With the death of ADM Isoruku Yamamoto on 18 April 1943 command of the Imperial Japanese Combined Fleet passed to ADM Mineichi Koga. In February 1944 Koga was forced by American air raids to move his headquarters from the now untenable forward base at Truk Lagoon to Palau in the Caroline Islands. The Japanese considered the Carolines and the Marianas Islands to be part of their inner defensive perimeter from which they could not retreat. Koga sent his remaining carriers under VADM Ozawa to the relative safety of Singapore, and retained only the battleship MUSASHI, a cruiser, and four destroyers in Palau.
Meanwhile, MacArthur was working up the islands of the southern Pacific and by March 1944 was anticipating a landing at Hollandia in New Guinea. The Japanese base on Palau represented a point from which the enemy could harass MacArthur’s Hollandia operations. Thus, VADM Marc Mitscher’s Task Force 58 of 11 aircraft carriers and assorted surface escorts was ordered to hit Palau hard enough knock it out of action for at least a month.
Koga was an excellent strategist who anticipated this airstrike and was even more alerted on March 28th when a lone US Army Air Corps reconnaissance plane was spotted over his headquarters. Recognizing his strength was no match for Mitscher’s, he ordered his warships and many auxiliaries to disperse to sea. Thus, when the fighters, bombers, and torpedo planes of TF 58 struck on 30-31 March, most of Koga’s fleet was safely at sea. That didn’t prevent the Americans from damaging MUSASHI with a single torpedo as she slipped out of Palau, nor from wrecking two destroyers, four escorts, 20 auxiliary ships and 150 aircraft at Palau. Koga weathered the two days of attacks in his headquarters bunker. The fury of the American assault left Palau in shambles.
Koga correctly reasoned that after his landing at Hollandia, MacArthur would next move against the southern Philippines. In defense, Koga re-drafted Operational Plan “Z” in a manner that united Ozawa’s carriers with Koga’s surface ships in a final battle of annihilation against the Allies. Koga consolidated his command on the Philippine island of Davao, ordering nearly all the land-based aircraft from the Marianas to Davao and commanding Ozawa to meet him there. He next ordered two Kawanishi H8K2 “Emily” four-engine flying boats to transport himself and his Chief of Staff, VADM Shigeru Fukudome, to Davao. In the dark of this night Koga’s “Emily” took off amid the wails of air raid sirens. He circled the harbor and headed west, never to be seen again. No trace of survivors or wreckage was ever recovered. Fukudome, carrying the written Plan “Z” document, got safely airborne in the second “Emily,” but his plane was forced to divert to Cebu when a violent storm was encountered on route.
Continued tomorrow….
Goralski, Robert. World War II Almanac, 1931-1945: A Political and Military Record. New York, NY: Bonanza Books, 1981, p. 310.
Manson, Frank A. “Koga’s Last Stand.” Sea Classics, Vol 33 (8). August 2000, pp. 26-31.
Wilds, Thomas C. “The Admiral Who Lost his Fleet.” United States Naval Institute Proceedings, Vol 77 (11), Whole No. 585, November 1951, pp. 1175-81.
ADDITIONAL NOTES: The air raid sirens that were sounding as Koga’s seaplane took off proved to be a false alarm. Nevertheless, the suggestion of an air raid did cause American authorities to falsely surmise that Koga’s plane had been shot down. In truth, Koga is now thought to have been lost in the violent storm Fukudome’s plane also encountered. Koga was one of Japan’s better naval strategists, and his loss was yet another blow to Imperial naval prowess. News of his death was not released by the Japanese until May, at which time he was replaced by ADM Soemu Toyoda.
During WWII Time Magazine ran a series of cover art depictions of American, German, and Japanese naval flag officers. Below is the 8 November 1943 cover depicting Adm Koga.
