Final Imperial Japanese Navy Fleet Review, 1940.

Naval review of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1940. The emperor’s flagship, the battleship Hiei, is being escorted by heavy cruisers Takao, Kako, and Furutaka past the assembled Imperial Japanese Navy Combined Fleet at anchor off of Yokohama in Tokyo Bay.

“A Naval Review took place [on 11 October 1940] to celebrate the 2,600th anniversary of Emperor Jimmu’s enthronement. Ninety-eight IJN warships totalling 596,060 tons were present. Emperor Hirohito (Showa) inspected the fleet from his flagship, the battleship Hiei, which passed among the fleet’s ships escorted by heavy cruisers Takao, Kako and Furutaka.

“The Emperor’s younger brother, Lt. Cdr. Prince Takamatsu, Hiei‘s gunnery chief, introduced members of the royal family to the important personages onboard including navy minister Oikawa Koshiro. Vice Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, CINC Japanese Combined Fleet, supervised the ceremony from his flagship, the battleship Nagato.

Other IJN ships at the Imperial Naval Review were:

· I.J.N. submarine tenders Chogei and Jingei
· I.J.N. auxiliary ship Mamiya
· I.J.N. submarine I-66.”

– World War II Sea War, Volume 3, by Donald A Bertke, Gordon Smith, Don Kindell, 2012

Battleship fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1940, in review past the emperor’s flagship, Hiei (left). The first fleet review in Japan is said to have been the Gunkan Eiran, or ‘Emperor’s warship review’ held in Tempozan, Osaka, in 1868. Fleet reviews were held 18 times until the final one, the fleet review in Kigen 2600 (commemoration of the 2,600th anniversary of the founding of Japan), held off of Yokohama in October 1940.