and in April 1941 the High
Command appointed him
in charge of the presti-
gious First Air Fleet, with
several of Japan’s newest
and most effective air-
craft carriers. Curiously,
these vessels represented
a type of warfare for
which Nagumo had never
trained. Adm. Isoroku
Yamamoto, the head of
the Combined Fleet,
openly questioned the
sagacity of this appoint-
ment, citing Nagumo’s
well-established reputa-
tion for cautiousness. But
by this time, he was much
too senior a figure to dis-
miss casually.
At this critical junc-
ture, Japan was girding it-
self for war with the
United States. When last-minute negotiations
failed to lift America’s embargo of steel and
oil, the government of Prime Minister Hideki
Tojoopted to commence hostilities. Hence-
forth, the Japanese prepared to take by force
whatever they needed. In November 1941, a
daring plan conceived by Admiral Yamamoto
for a surprise attack against Pearl Harbor, the
U.S. Navy base in Hawaii, was put into motion.
Nagumo, leading a strike force of four carriers
and numerous support ships, secretly steamed
out of Japanese waters that month in com-
plete radio silence. Heading east, the admiral
positioned his fleet northwest of Hawaii, and
on December 7, 1941, he launched Cmdr. Mit-
suo Fuchidaand the first wave of 360 Japa-
nese aircraft. Complete tactical surprise was
achieved, and the Japanese sank four Ameri-
can battleships, damaged four others, and
damaged more than 200 aircraft. But to
Japan’s military misfortune, the primary tar-
get—three American aircraft carriers—was
not at Pearl. The repair facilities and oil stag-
ing areas were also not seriously damaged.
Both Fuchida and Cmdr.
Minoru Genda, who drew
up the actual attack,
pleaded with Nagumo for
a third air strike, but he
dithered. Cautious as
ever, he refused to expose
his ships to a possible
American carrier attack
and ordered the fleet
back to Japan. This timid-
ity angered the more ag-
gressive officers on his
staff, and Adm. Matome
Ugaki complained, “He
was like a robber fleeing
the scene, happy with
small booty.”
Nagumo returned to
Japan in triumph and
gave a personal account
of the attack to Emperor
Hirohito. Soon after, his
fleet steamed southward
for continued operations against the East In-
dies and northern Australia. By March 1942,
Nagumo’s fleet arrived in the Indian Ocean on
an ambitious raid. There they sank the British
heavy cruisers HMS Dorsetshireand Corn-
wall, along with the carrier Hermes. Thus
Nagumo’s First Air Fleet had traversed one-
third of the globe, inflicting heavy damage on
Allied ships and installations while sustaining
few losses. Considering the sheer distances
involved, and the inordinate complexity of
carrier operations, it was an outstanding
achievement. However, other Japanese naval
forces subsequently fought a carrier battle
with U.S. forces at the Coral Sea in May 1942,
a draw with heavy losses to both sides. This
action, coupled with a surprise raid on Tokyo
by Col. James H. Doolittle, prompted the Jap-
anese High Command to enlarge its already
sizable defensive perimeter even farther.
In June 1942, Nagumo’s carriers departed
Japan again, en route to Midway Island. Admi-
ral Yamamoto hoped that an attack there
would lure the remaining U.S. carriers outNAGUMO, CHUICHI
Chuichi Nagumo
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