Battle of Wake Island
Overly confident that the island's defenses has been reduced by air bombardment, his forces suffered heavy casualties in the first phase of the Battle of Wake Island before being forced to retreat. "Hayate" and "Kisaragi" were sunk, and "Yubari" was hit 11 times by shells fired by the Marine defenders. Perhaps surprisingly for the Japanese Naval Command, he was not relieved of his command after this failure, allowing him a second try. The second assault on Wake Island, reinforced with heavy cruisers and the aircraft carriers and , was more successful.