Chūichi Nagumo Biography . Early life . Nagumo was born in the city of Yonezawa , Yamagata Prefecture in northern Japan in 1887 . He graduated from the 36th class of the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy in 1908 , with a ranking of 8 out of a class of 191 cadets . As a midshipman , he served in the protected cruiser s and and the armored cruiser . After his promotion to ensign in 1910 , he was assigned to cruiser . After attending torpedo and naval artillery schools , he was promoted to sub - lieutenant and served in the battleship , followed by the destroyer . In 1914 , he was promoted to lieutenant and was assigned to the battlecruiser , followed by the destroyer . He was assigned his first command , the destroyer , on 15 December 1917 . Nagumo graduated from the Naval War College , and was promoted to lieutenant commander in 1920 . His specialty was torpedo and destroyer tactics . From 1920 - 1921 , he was captain of the destroyer , but was soon sent to shore duty with various assignments by the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff . He became a commander in 1924 . From 1925 - 1926 , Nagumo accompanied a Japanese mission to study naval warfare strategy , tactics , and equipment in Europe and the United States . After his return to Japan , Nagumo served as an instructor at the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy from 1927 - 1929 . Nagumo was promoted to captain in November 1929 and assumed command of the light cruiser and from 1930 - 1931 was commander of the 11th Destroyer Division . After serving in administrative positions from 1931 – 1933 , he assumed command of the heavy cruiser from 1933 – 1934 , and the battleship from 1934 - 1935 . He was promoted to rear admiral on 1 November 1935 . As a Rear Admiral , Nagumo commanded the 8th Cruiser Division to support Imperial Japanese Army movements in China from the Yellow Sea . As a leading officer of the militaristic Fleet Faction , he also received a boost in his career from political forces . From 1937 - 1938 , he was Commandant of the Torpedo School , and from 1938 – 1939 , he was commander of the 3rd Cruiser Division . Nagumo was promoted to vice admiral on 15 November 1939 . From November 1940 - April 1941 , Nagumo was Commandant of the Naval War College . World War II . On 10 April 1941 , Nagumo was appointed Commander in Chief of the First Air Fleet , the Imperial Japanese Navy ′ s main aircraft carrier force , largely due to his seniority . Many contemporaries and historians have doubted his suitability for this command , given his lack of familiarity with naval aviation . By this time , he had visibly aged , physically and mentally . Physically , he suffered from arthritis , perhaps from his younger days as a " kendoka " . Mentally , he had become a cautious officer who worked hard going over tactical plans of every operation he was involved in . Admiral Nishizo Tsukahara had some doubts with his appointment , and commented , " Nagumo was an officer of the old school , a specialist of torpedo and surface maneuvers . . . He did not have any idea of the capability and potential of naval aviation . " At home , Nagumo did not receive a loving description , either . One of his two sons described him as a brooding father who was obsessed ( and later disappointed ) with pressuring his sons to follow his footsteps into the navy . By contrast , Nagumo ' s junior officers in the navy viewed him as precisely the father figure his sons did not . However , despite his lack of experience , he was a strong advocate of combining sea and air power . Nevertheless , he was opposed to Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto ' s plan to attack the U . S . Navy at Pearl Harbor . While commanding the First Air Fleet , Nagumo oversaw the effective attack on Pearl Harbor , but he was later criticized for his failure to launch a third attack , which might have destroyed the fuel oil storage and repair facilities which would have rendered the most important American naval base in the Pacific useless , and the submarine base and intelligence station , which were the main factors in Japan ' s defeat . Nagumo was surrounded by able lieutenants such as Minoru Genda and Mitsuo Fuchida . He also fought well in the early 1942 campaigns . He was the fleet commander during the Bombing of Darwin and his Indian Ocean raid on the British Eastern Fleet was a success , sinking an aircraft carrier , two cruisers and two destroyers , and causing Admiral Sir James Somerville to retreat to East Africa . At the end of his trip into the Indian Ocean , Nagumo ' s personal score card saw five battleships , one carrier , two cruisers , seven destroyers , dozens of merchantmen , transports , and various other vessels . He was also responsible for downing hundreds of Allied aircraft from six nations . Destruction brought upon Allied ports also disabled or slowed Allied operations . All the while , he had lost no more than a few dozen pilots . However , at the Battle of Midway , Nagumo ' s near - perfect record finally came to an end . His Carrier Striking Task Force lost four carriers in what proved to be the turning point of the Pacific War , and the massive losses of carrier aircraft maintenance personnel would prove decisive to the performance of the Japanese navy in later engagements . Although 110 carrier aircrewmen were lost during the battle , their loss was not as cataclysmic as the loss of the four carriers , their aircraft , and the men responsible for their maintenance . Afterwards , Nagumo was re - assigned as Commander in Chief of the Third Fleet and commanded aircraft carriers in the Guadalcanal campaign , but his actions there were largely indecisive , and he slowly frittered away much of Japan ' s maritime strength . Final days . On 11 November 1942 , Nagumo was re - assigned back to Japan , where he was given command of the Sasebo Naval District . He transferred to the Kure Naval District on 21 June 1943 . From October 1943 - February 1944 , Nagumo was again Commander in Chief of First Fleet , which was largely involved in training duties by that time . However , as the war situation continued to deteriorate against Japan , Nagumo was once again given a combat command . He was sent to the Mariana Islands on 4 March 1944 as commander in chief of the short - lived Fourteenth Air Fleet , and simultaneously commander in chief of the equally short - lived Central Pacific Area Fleet . The invasion of Saipan began on 15 June 1944 . Within days , the IJN — under Vice Admiral Jisaburō Ozawa — were overwhelmed by the U . S . 5th Fleet in the decisive Battle of the Philippine Sea , costing Japan approximately 500 aircraft . Nagumo and his Army peer General Yoshitsugu Saito then were left on their own to defend the island of Saipan against the American assault . On 6 July , during the last stages of the Battle of Saipan , Nagumo committed suicide ; not in the traditional method of " seppuku " , but rather a pistol to the temple . His remains were later found by U . S . Marines in the cave where he spent his last days as the commander of the Saipan defenders . He was posthumously promoted to admiral .