Raizō Tanaka

Tanaka was born in what is now part of Yamaguchi city, in Yamaguchi Prefecture. After high school, Tanaka entered the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy, where he was a member of the 41st graduating class in 1913, ranked 34th out of 118 midshipmen to graduate. As a midshipman, Tanaka served on the cruisers and , battleship . After promotion to sub-lieutenant, he served on the cruiser and battlecruiser . He then attended the basic torpedo and naval artillery schools from December 1916 to December 1917, after which he was assigned to the destroyers and , and the battleship . He returned to torpedo school, attending the advanced course from December 1919 to December 1920. From 1921 to November 1923, Lieutenant Tanaka was assigned as the executive officer on the submarine tender , the cruiser , the destroyer , and the cruiser . In December 1925, Tanaka was appointed as executive officer as well as an instructor at the IJN's torpedo school. After one year at the school, he performed two years of staff duties, including one year at Kure Naval District, one of the IJN's primary bases. ==World War II==

On 26 September 1941, Captain Tanaka took command of the 2nd Destroyer Squadron with his flagship being the light cruiser Jintsū once again. Tanaka was promoted to the rank of rear admiral on 15 October of the same year. The 2nd Destroyer Squadron, under Tanaka, and initially composed of eight destroyers in addition to the light cruiser Jintsū, participated in the invasion of the Philippines and of the Dutch East Indies, including the Battle of the Java Sea, during the early months of the Pacific War between Japan and Allied forces. On 21 May 1942, Tanaka's 2nd Destroyer Squadron—consisting of Jintsū and 10 destroyers—sortied from Kure to support the Japanese attack on Midway Island by escorting the transports carrying the troops for the prospective invasion (which was never carried out, because of the American air supremacy there). After the Japanese defeat in the Battle of Midway, Tanaka's ships returned to Japan via the island of Guam. After the U.S. Marine Corps landing by the American 1st Marine Division on the island of Guadalcanal on 7 August 1942, Tanaka with the 2nd Destroyer Squadron departed from Japan immediately to steam to the main Japanese Central Pacific base at Truk Atoll. The 2nd Destroyer Squadron departed from Truk on 16 August, escorting a convoy carrying the troops to counterattack the American Marines forces on Guadalcanal. On 25 August, during the Battle of the Eastern Solomons, Tanaka's ships were attacked by Marine Corps warplanes from Henderson Field on Guadalcanal. One transport ship and one destroyer were sunk by the Marine aviators and Jintsū was bombed and heavily damaged, with Tanaka being wounded. Due to the damage to Jintsū, Tanaka shifted his flag to the destroyer . Nevertheless, Tanaka was promoted to the rank of vice admiral on 15 October 1944. ==Postwar==

Tanaka retired from the navy on 26 June 1946 and died on 9 July 1969 at 77 years of age. ==Notes==