Early Life and Naval Career
Yonai was born in Morioka city, Iwate Prefecture as the first son of an ex-samurai retainer of the Nambu clan of the Morioka Domain. He graduated from the 29th class Imperial Japanese Naval Academy in 1901, ranked 68 of 115 cadets. After midshipman service in the corvette Kongō, and cruiser Tokiwa he was commissioned as ensign in January 1903. He served in administrative positions until near the end of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, when he went to sea again on the destroyer Inazuma and the cruiser Iwate.
After the war, he served as chief gunnery officer on the cruiser Niitaka, battleship Shikishima, and cruiser Tone.
After his promotion to lieutenant commander in December 1912, he graduated from the Naval War College and was assigned as naval attaché to Russia during the height of World War I, from 1915-1917.
While overseas, he was promoted to commander; after the collapse of the Russian Empire, he was recalled to Japan and later became executive officer on the battleship Asahi.
He rose to the rank of captain in December 1920 and was subsequently sent as naval attaché to Poland from 1921-1922.
On his return to Japan, he was captain of the cruisers Kasuga (from 1922–1923) and Iwate (1923–1924), and battleships Fusō (in 1924) and Mutsu (from 1924–1925). Yonai was promoted to rear admiral on December 1, 1925.
He became Chief of the 3rd Section of the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff in December 1926. Within the Navy General Staff, he served on the Technical Council of the Navy Technical Department.
He was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the First Expeditionary Fleet, sent to the Yangtze River in China in December 1928. Following the success of this mission, he was promoted to vice-admiral in December 1930 and placed in command of the Chinkai Guard District, in Korea.
Yonai was given command of the IJN 3rd Fleet in December 1932, following which he again commanded the Sasebo Naval District (November 1933), IJN 2nd Fleet (November 1934) and Yokosuka Naval District (December 1935) before receiving appointment as Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet and concurrently the IJN 1st Fleet in December 1936.
While in command at Sasebo, the Japanese Navy was shaken by the "Tomozuru Incident", when it was determined that the basic design of the Chidori-class torpedo boats was flawed, thus calling into question the basic designs of many of the warships in the Japanese navy.
While in command at Yokosuka, the February 26 Incident erupted in Tokyo. Yonai was visiting his mistress in Shimbashi the night the attempted coup d'état began, only a couple of blocks away, but knew nothing of the situation until he returned to base the following morning.
Read more about this topic: Mitsumasa Yonai
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