Heihachiro Togo at the de-
cisive victory at Tsushima
in 1905. There he lost two
fingers in an explosion.
Yamamoto was nonethe-
less retained in the ser-
vice, and over the next
decade he successfully
fulfilled a number of rou-
tine assignments. As early
as 1915, while attending
the Naval Staff College, he
began agitating for war-
ships capable of launch-
ing and receiving aircraft
at sea. This stance put
him at odds with the tradi-
tion-minded battleship
clique dominating most
navies at the time, which
viewed aircraft as novel-
ties. The following year
Yamamoto ventured to
the United States to study
petroleum production (es-
sential for naval considerations) at Harvard
University. There he became known as some-
thing of an extroverted clown, notorious for
outlandish physical stunts like standing on his
head. The future admiral was also regarded
among classmates as an excellent poker player
and gambler. Yamamoto’s visit also indelibly
impressed him with the strength and industrial
might of America, especially when contrasted
to his own island nation. After Harvard, he
completed several more tours of duty back
home and abroad and returned to Washington,
D.C., as a naval attaché in 1925. Three years
later he advanced to captain of the newly built
aircraft carrier Akagi,which suited his avia-
tion-oriented outlook perfectly. By 1928, Ya-
mamoto had reached the rank of admiral, and
in 1935 he headed the Japanese delegation to
the London Naval Conference. There he
strongly contested American and European re-
strictions on Japanese naval construction and,
when these constraints were abolished, re-
turned home a national hero.
Throughout the 1930s,
Yamamoto focused his
considerable talents upon
developing Japanese na-
val aviation. As head of
the First Air Fleet, he
wanted his carrier arm to
possess fighters, dive-
bombers, and torpedo-
bombers equal to any in
the world. Simultane-
ously, he opposed the
more virulent elements of
militarism, fearing that
war with the United
States would lead to Ja-
pan’s ruin. Naturally, this
stance was denounced by
militants in the govern-
ment, and threats were
made against him. To
forestall a possible assas-
sination by right-wing el-
ements, the naval minis-
ter appointed Yamamoto
head of the newly formed Combined Fleet in- This transfer kept him out of Tokyo—
and harm’s way—as much as possible. Within
a few years the Combined Fleet represented
the primary naval strike force of Japan. It pos-
sessed the usual complement of battleships
and heavy cruisers, but the core of its offen-
sive capability—thanks to Yamamoto’s pio-
neering efforts—lay with six aircraft carriers.
The aircraft and crews they carried were su-
perbly trained and quite possibly the best in
the world.
It was while functioning as head of the
Combined Fleet in 1940 that Yamamoto was
ordered to draw up war plans against the
United States. He fulfilled the task as ordered,
but with great foreboding. In view of the strik-
ing industrial and population disparities be-
tween America and Japan, he argued that only
by neutralizing the U.S. Pacific Fleet at
Hawaii would Japan gain enough time to con-
quer sufficient territory. The admiral took in-
spiration from the November 11, 1940, British
YAMAMOTO, ISOROKU
Isoroku Yamamoto
National Archives