Coming to Rabaul

Japanese Airfield at Rabaul, 1942

A graduate of the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy in 1922, Lt. Toshikazu Ohmae stepped onto the pier at Dublon Island, at Truk Atoll. He looked around at the glaring white-painted Fleet Headquarters as the oystershell paving crunched under his feet. He wore his dress whites for he was headed to a meeting with his new boss, Admiral Gunichi Mikawa, commander of the Eighth Fleet, just in time for a move 800 miles due south to Rabaul, on New Britain Island, bastion of the Eleventh Air Fleet. Neither man realized the immense difficulties of this new posting. The calendar showed the 25th day of July, 1942, a quiet day in the war. 

Truk as the support base and Rabaul as the frontline combat base would figure in the most important campaign of the war so far. As the men over lunch discussed mundane affairs, American marines, ships and planes were setting out to seize the Eleventh Fleet airfield under construction at Lunga Point, Guadalcanal. The 8th Fleet headquarters was advanced to Rabaul on July 30, just ten days before the American landing on Guadalcanal. Ohmae went on to serve as senior staff officer, Southwest Fleet at Rabaul, through December, 1943.

His career is a convenient timeline for the backdrop to war. In the 1930’s Ohmae was posted to the U.S. as naval attaché. During a trip to Iowa, his briefcase was opened and its contents copied by U.S. agents while the sailor was distracted by an inviting young woman. 

On the morning of August 7, the Marines began wading ashore at Lunga Point, Guadalcanal. Ohmae managed to be at the decisive location on August 8th, 1942, standing with the fleet commander at the Battle of Savo Island, a sudden and violent night encounter, the first battle of the campaign. The Japanese Eighth Fleet decimated the Allied warships, suffering only minor damage to a couple of their own vessels. Beyond the island, at anchor in Lunga Point, lay almost all of the enemy’s available transports. Had Mikawa turned against them, he might have crippled the invasion from the outset.

Mikawa, however, was concerned lest his ships be caught within range of air attack at daybreak, and Ohmae supported the admiral’s decision to leave the transports unscathed (one transport damaged by air). This missed opportunity led to a six-month losing struggle. 

Three years later, Ohmae was part of the Japanese military delegation to Manila that ratified the surrender terms. In between he served as senior staff officer, Southwest Fleet at Rabaul, through 1943, and later with Admiral Ozawa of the Mobile Fleet.

Of Related Interest: "Perspectives on Japanese Naval Intelligence"