Early career Born to a farming family in rural
Akaiwa District, Okayama (now part of
Okayama city,
Okayama prefecture), Ugaki entered the
Imperial Japanese Naval Academy on 11 September 1909 and graduated in its 40th class on 17 July 1912. On 10 September 1917, he reported aboard the armored cruiser , He was reassigned to the
destroyer on 1 August 1918, On 1 December 1937, he took command of the battleship , Ugaki was promoted to
rear admiral on 15 November 1938 In August 1941, Ugaki was appointed
Chief-of-Staff of the
Combined Fleet under Admiral
Isoroku Yamamoto, a position he held until Yamamoto's death.
World War II The
Pacific campaign of
World War II began with the Japanese
attack on Pearl Harbor,
Hawaii, on 7 December 1941 (8 December 1941 on the other side of the
International Date Line in Japan), and Ugaki was promoted to
vice admiral on 1 November 1942. then transferring his flag to
Yamato in early May 1944. After U.S. forces
landed on Biak on 27 May 1944, he argued forcefully that Japan had a strategic imperative to hold
Biak, and at least partially as a result of his advocacy the Imperial Japanese Navy planned
Operation Kon for the relief of the island and on 30 May 1944 created the
Kon Force to carry out the operation. It gave Ugaki additional duty as overall commander of the
Kon Force on 10 June 1944, but the operation was postponed on 12 June 1944 when the
Marianas campaign began with the first U.S. bombardments of
Saipan.
Suicide On 15 August 1945,
Emperor Hirohito made a radio announcement conceding defeat and calling for the military to lay down their arms. After listening to the announcement of
Japan's defeat, Ugaki made the final entry in his diary noting that he had not yet received an official cease-fire order, and that as he alone was to blame for the failure of Japanese aviators to stop the American advance, he would fly one last mission himself to show the true spirit of
bushido. His subordinates protested, and even after Ugaki had climbed into the back seat of a
Yokosuka D4Y4 of the 701st Kokutai (Allied reporting name "Judy")
dive bomber piloted by Lieutenant Tatsuo Nakatsuru,
Warrant Officer Akiyoshi Endo—whose place in the
kamikaze roster Ugaki had usurped—climbed into the same space that the admiral had already occupied. Thus, the aircraft containing Ugaki took off with three men (piloted by Lieutenant Nakatsuru, reconnaissance by Warrant Officer Endo, and Ugaki), as opposed to two each in the remaining ten aircraft. Prior to boarding his aircraft, Ugaki posed for pictures and removed his rank insignia from his dark green uniform, taking only a ceremonial
short sword given to him by Admiral Yamamoto. Elements of this last flight most likely followed the Ryukyu flyway southwest to the many small islands north of Okinawa, where U.S. forces were still on alert at the potential end of hostilities. Endo served as radioman during the mission, sending Ugaki's final messages, the last of which at 19:24 reported that the plane had begun its dive onto an American vessel. However, U.S. Navy records do not indicate any successful
kamikaze attack on that day, and it is likely that all aircraft on the mission (with the exception of three that returned due to engine problems) crashed into the ocean, struck down by American anti-aircraft fire. Although there are no precise accounts of an intercept made by Navy or Marine fighters or Pacific Fleet surface units against enemy aircraft in this vicinity at the time of surrender, it is possible further research may reveal more detail as to which ships (if any) were attacked. The next morning, the crew of
LST-926 claimed to have found the still smoldering remains of a "cockpit" (implying a shootdown or violent ditching of some sort, but not the exact cause) with three bodies on the beach of
Iheyajima Island. The third man, his head crushed and right arm missing, wore a dark green uniform and a short sword was found nearby. The sailors buried the bodies in the sand. ==Honors and awards==