was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II, remembered for his extensive and revealing war diary, role at the Battle of Leyte Gulf, and kamikaze suicide hours after the announced surrender of Japan at the end of the war.
Biography
Early career
Born to a farming family in rural Akaiwa District, Okayama (now part of Okayama city, Okayama prefecture), Ugaki entered the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy on 11 September 1909 and graduated in its 40th class on 17 July 1912. He placed ninth out of 144 cadets in his class, and was good friends with his Naval Academy classmates Tamon Yamaguchi and Yoshio Suzuki, both of whom were killed in action during World War II. He served as a midshipman on the armored cruiser and made a training cruise to Australia aboard her.
On 1 May 1913, he was transferred to the protected cruiser and was commissioned as ensign on 1 December 1913. He was assigned to the battlecruiser on 27 May 1914.
World War I
Japan entered World War I on the side of the Allies on 23 August 1914. During the early weeks of the war, Ibuki, with Ugaki aboard, participated in the Allied search for the Imperial German Navy light cruiser in the Indian Ocean, joined the Royal Navy armoured cruiser and protected cruiser in escorting a convoy carrying the main body of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force from New Zealand across the Tasman Sea and to Albany, Western Australia, and along with the Royal Australian Navy light cruiser escorted a convoy carrying the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps across the Indian Ocean from Australia to the Middle East. Ugaki was promoted to sub-lieutenant on 1 December 1915 while aboard Ibuki.
Ugaki subsequently transferred to the battlecruiser on 1 December 1916. Kongō experimented with handling airplanes and operated off China during his tour. On 10 September 1917, he reported aboard the armored cruiser , and aboard her made a training cruise in company with the armored cruiser to the west coast of North America with the Japanese Naval Academy's 45th class aboard between 2 March and 6 July 1918. He was reassigned to the destroyer on 1 August 1918, and was aboard her when the war ended on 11 November 1918.
Interwar
After his promotion to lieutenant on 1 December 1918, Ugaki attended the Naval Gunnery School, and subsequently was assigned as chief gunnery officer to the destroyer on 1 December 1919 before returning to Kongō on 1 December 1921 as secondary gunnery officer. During his tour aboard her, Kongō operated off Dairen and Qingdao, China, and St. Vladimir Bay, Russia, and visited Chinhae, Korea.
On 1 December 1922, Ugaki entered the Japanese . In 1924, he graduated in its 22nd class, and on 1 December 1924 he was promoted to lieutenant commander and began a stint as gunnery officer aboard the light cruiser . On 1 December 1925, he became a staff officer on the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff and served for nearly three years as a staff member of the Naval Gunnery School. On 15 November 1928 he was appointed as a resident officer in Germany, and he was promoted to commander on 10 December 1928.
Ordered back to Japan on 1 November 1930, Ugaki returned to sea in an assignment as a staff officer in the 3rd Cruiser Division on 1 December 1930, and then became a staff officer in the 2nd Fleet on 1 December 1931. Ugaki became an instructor at the Naval War College on 15 November 1932 and received a promotion to captain on 1 December 1932. On 30 October 1935, Ugaki was assigned to duty as a staff officer to the Combined Fleet, then received his first command on 1 December 1936 as commanding officer of the training ship , From 7 June to 19 October 1937, Yakumo made a training cruise to Suez and the Mediterranean under his command with the 64th class of the Japanese Naval Academy embarked. On 1 December 1937, he took command of the battleship , which operated as part of the Japanese blockade of the southern coast of China during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
Ugaki was promoted to rear admiral on 15 November 1938 and became Director, 1st Bureau (Operations) on the Naval General Staff on 15 December 1938. He took command of the 8th Cruiser Division, consisting of the heavy cruisers and , on 10 April 1941. In August 1941, Ugaki was appointed Chief-of-Staff of the Combined Fleet under Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, a position he held until Yamamoto's death.