Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo - Photo and Brief Bio

Chuichi Nagumo was a torpedo specialist and commanded the carrier strike force which attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. This portrait photograph, which was taken circa 1941-43, depicts the Vice Admiral while he commanded the First Air Fleet.

The U.S. Navy's Historical Center provides more facts about him:

Chuichi Nagumo, born in 1886, graduated from the Japanese Naval Academy in 1908. He was a torpedo specialist and had extensive seagoing experience.

While commanding Japan's carrier striking force, he executed the 7 December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor and January-April 1942 raids in the South Pacific and Indian Ocean. His force was decisively defeated on 4 June 1942, during the Battle of Midway, losing all four carriers present.

Vice Admiral Nagumo retained command of the remaining Japanese aircraft carriers into November 1942, leading them in the Battle of the Eastern Solomons in August and the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands in October. He was later placed in charge of naval forces in the Marianas Islands area.

In keeping with Japanese military traditions, he died by his own hand on 6 July 1944, during the final stages of the defense of Saipan.