Yuzuru Hiraga Vice Admiral Baron was a career naval officer in the Imperial Japanese Navy , Doctor of Engineering and head of the engineering school of Tokyo Imperial University and a leading Japanese naval architect in the 1910s and 1920s , responsible for designing a number of famous warships , many of which would later see action during World War II . He participated in establishing the Chiba Institute of Technology from 1941 . Biography . Hiraga was born in Tokyo and grew up in Yokosuka , Kanagawa although his family was from Hiroshima , where his official family registration was located . He graduated from what is now Hibiya High School , and entered the engineering department of Tokyo Imperial University in 1898 , specializing in marine engineering . He was drafted into the Imperial Japanese Navy in 1899 , but allowed to continue his studies , and graduated in 1901 as a sub - lieutenant . He immediately went to work for the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal as a design engineer for new warships . Promoted to lieutenant on 28 September 1903 , he was transferred to the Kure Naval Arsenal in 1905 . From 1905 , at the height of the Russo - Japanese War , Hiraga was dispatched to the United Kingdom for further studies . He left Yokohama in January , and travelling across the Pacific Ocean , the United States and the Atlantic Ocean , he arrived in London in April . From October , he was enrolled in the Royal Naval College , Greenwich , where he studied the latest techniques in warship design . He graduated in June 1908 , and spent the next six months touring various shipyards in France and Italy before returning to Japan in early 1909 . In September of the same year , he became a professor of engineering at Tokyo Imperial University , and was promoted to lieutenant - commander on 1 October . In 1912 , Hiraga was head of the design team for the new battleship " Yamashiro " , and the conversion of " Hiei " from battlecruiser into a battleship . He also worked on the designs for the " Kaba " - class destroyer s , and received promotion to commander on 1 December . In 1913 , Hiraga became Director of Shipyards for the Imperial Japanese Navy . He was awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasure ( 4th class ) on 28 November . He was awarded the 3rd class degree of the same decoration on 7 November 1915 for his work in ramping up the efficiency of Japanese shipyards to meet the order demands of the Allies of World War I , and the 2nd class degree on 25 February 1926 . In 1916 , Hiraga became chief engineering director for the Navy ’ s ambitious Eight - eight fleet project , and began work on a series of high speed battleships and cruisers . On 1 April 1917 , he was promoted to the rank of captain , and to rear admiral on 1 June 1922 . On 7 November 1920 , he was awarded the third class of the Order of the Rising Sun . The innovative cruiser " Yubari " , largely designed by Hiraga , was commissioned in 1923 . Hiraga was appointed a technical advisor to the Japanese delegation at the Washington Naval Conference , and was in the United States from November 1923 to August 1924 , becoming head of the Imperial Japanese Navy Technical Department on his return . He was promoted to vice admiral in 1925 . Hiraga assembled a team of engineers to rebuild the Japanese navy in the aftermath of the terms imposed by the Washington Naval Treaty , which severely restricted designs in terms of displacement and numbers of large capital warships . The innovative designs for cruisers and destroyers formulated by Hiraga , which were extraordinarily powerful for their size , were among the most advanced in the world . Hiraga concentrated on ways to fit as much weaponry and equipment as possible into a treaty - compliant hull . ( i . e . under 10 , 000 tons standard displacement ) . However , not content with these advancements , the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff overruled Hiraga ’ s technical objections , and ordered that even more weaponry be added . In the case of " Mogami " - class cruiser , fifteen guns were mounted on a hull with a nominal displacement of only 8 , 500 tons . This raised technical questions overseas on how such designs were possible within the limitations of the Washington Treaty . It was only later revealed that these designs were only possible through generous underestimation of the vessel ’ s true displacement , and sacrifices in terms of safety . In 1929 , after Hiraga ' s design for the " Kii " - class battleship was shelved , he went into semi - retirement , and retired from active military service in 1930 , becoming an advisor to Mitsubishi shipyards . In April 1934 , Hiraga faced a board of inquiry after the Tomozuru Incident , a marine accident involving the torpedo boat " Tomozuru " , which overturned and capsized during trials at the Sasebo Naval Arsenal . Resulting investigation revealed what a number of Western engineers had long suspected : Hiraga ’ s designs were top - heavy and tended towards instability . The Tomozuru Incident sent shock waves through the Japanese military , as it called into question the safety and basic design concepts of the most modern warships in the Japanese inventory . Hiraga ' s reputation suffered a further setback due to the Fourth Fleet Incident , in which so many destroyers of the Hiraga - designed " Fubuki " - class destroyer s were so damaged in a typhoon that the whole class had to be reconstructed . however , Hiraga ’ s engineering expertise and designs were eventually vindicated in the investigation , and subsequently appointed to the design team for the superbattleship " Yamato " . In December 1938 , Hiraga became the President of Tokyo Imperial University . In 1939 , he conducted what journalists later termed the " Hiraga Purge " , by expelling most of the facility of the university ’ s School of Economics , for publicly supporting liberal political doctrines . On February 17 , 1943 , Hiraga died at Tokyo University Hospital of complications arising from pneumonia . He was posthumously awarded with the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun and also with the kazoku peerage title of baron . His brain was removed on his death , and is preserved at the Tokyo University Hospital . His grave is at the Tama Reien in Fuchū , Tokyo .