Hiroaki Abe

Hiroaki Abe (阿部 弘毅) was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II.

Early career
Abe was born in Yonezawa city in Yamagata prefecture in northern Japan. He graduated from the 39th class of the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy in 1911, with a ranking of 26th out of a class of 148 cadets. As a midshipman, he served on the cruiser JAPANESE CRUISER Soya and battleship JAPANESE BATTLESHIP Mikasa. After his promotion to ensign on 1 December 1912, he was assigned to the cruisers JAPANESE CRUISER Nisshin and JAPANESE CRUISER Chikuma, and the battleship JAPANESE BATTLESHIP Kongō.

After attending torpedo school and naval artillery school, he was promoted to sub-lieutenant and served on the destroyer JAPANESE DESTROYER Akebono, followed by the cruiser JAPANESE CRUISER Chitose during World War I. However, it does not appear that Abe experienced combat during his tour of duty.

After the end of the war, he served in mostly staff positions until he was given his first command on 20 July 1922; the destroyer Ushio. He then commanded the destroyer JAPANESE DESTROYER Hatsuyuki, and was promoted to lieutenant commander the following year on 1 December 1923. He was captain of the destroyer JAPANESE DESTROYER Kaki for one year in 1925.

Abe returned to the Naval Staff College in 1926. He was promoted to commander on 10 December 1928, and captain on 1 December 1932. In 1936, he assumed command of the cruiser JAPANESE CRUISER Jintsu, and a year later, that of the battleship JAPANESE BATTLESHIP Fusō.

Pacific War
On 15 November 1938, Abe was promoted to the rank of rear admiral. He was thus in command of Cruiser Division 8 (CruDiv8) during the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the subsequent Battle of Wake Island.

During the Guadalcanal campaign, as commander of Combat Division 11 (BatDiv 3 and CruDiv 8), he led his ships as the vanguard group at the Battle of the Eastern Solomons from 23–25 August 1942 and the Battle of Santa Cruz from 26–28 October. He was promoted to vice admiral on 1 November.

However, during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal on 12–13 November, when assigned to bombard Henderson Field on Guadalcanal, he broke off his attack after encountering U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Daniel Callaghan's Task Group 67.4 (TG 67.4). Abe lost his flagship, the battleship JAPANESE BATTLESHIP Hiei, which he ordered scuttled after it had been seriously damaged, as well as two destroyers. Abe himself was injured, while his chief of staff was killed, by machine gunfire from USS Laffey (DD-459), a destroyer in which he in turn sank afterwards. His failure to aggressively push through his attack against what appeared to be an inferior enemy force created tremendous controversy, and he was relieved of his command by Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto.

Abe was forced to resign from the Imperial Japanese Navy soon afterward in March 1943. He died in 1949.

His younger brother, Toshio Abe, was also a career navy officer, and was captain of the aircraft carrier JAPANESE AIRCRAFT CARRIER Shinano. Toshio went down with Shinano, when she was torpedoed and sunk by USS Archer-Fish (SS-311) while performing trials.

Notable Positions Held
Crewmember, BB Kongō - 27 May 1914-1 December 1914

Staff Officer, 3rd Fleet - 1 December 1919-10 November 1921

Chief Torpedo Officer, CL Tama - 10 May 1923-1 May 1924

Staff, Officer, DesRon 2–30 November 1929-31 October 1931

ComDesDiv 1–31 October 1931-16 May 1932

ComDesDiv 2–15 November 1932-15 November 1933

ComDesDiv 23–15 November 1933-15 November 1934

Commanding Officer, CL Jintsu - 1 December 1936-1 December 1937

Commanding Officer, BB Fusō - 1 December 1937-1 April 1938

ComDesRon 6–15 November 1940-21 July 1941

ComCruDiv 8–1 August 1941-14 July 1942

ComBatDiv 11–14 July 1942-20 December 1942

Dates of Promotions
Midshipman - 18 July 1911

Ensign - 1 December 1912

Sublieutenant - 1 December 1914

Lieutenant - 1 December 1917

Lieutenant Commander - 1 December 1923

Commander - 10 December 1928

Captain - 1 December 1932

Rear Admiral - 15 November 1938

Vice Admiral - 1 November 1942