was a Japanese Vice Admiral and politician. He was also known for serving as the Minister of Communications from 18 October 1941 to 8 October 1943, and Minister of Railways from 18 October 1941 to 2 December 1941, in the Tōjō Cabinet.
Family
During the Sengoku period, his family served Takeda Nobutora, and since the middle of the Edo period, he was in the Ando family, the chief retainer of the Kishu Tokugawa clan. His father, Yoshinari Terajima, worked for the Wakayama prefectural government, and Ken was the fourth son. His wife is Etsuko, the fourth daughter of Omoto Tomomichi.
Early naval career
Terajima attended Wakayama Junior High School as he took a personal admiration of the student uniforms of the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy, notably the ones of Yonejiro Okamoto and Kichisaburō Nomura, who were enrolled in the Naval Academy as junior high school seniors. There were 1,374 applicants and 200 passed the exam, Terajima, who had taken the exam after completing the fourth year of junior high school, was ranked 16th. Terajima raised his rank as the school year progressed and graduated in 4th place in his class. Among the classmates of the 31st class of Marines who graduated in December 1903, Kiyoshi Hasegawa and others became his lifelong best friends.
Russo-Japanese War
The 31st class of Marines would begin practical training in the Training Fleet but the Training Fleet would be disbanded due to the intensifying conflict between Japan and Russia. During the Russo-Japanese War, Terajima was assigned to the 1st Fleet, 1st Squadron except for the time when he temporarily became aboard the Mikasa to assist Saneyuki Akiyama when Kenkichi Okuda, a staff officer of the Combined Fleet, was killed in action. He enlisted as a crew member of Shikishima and fought in the Battle of Port Arthur, the Battle of the Yellow Sea, and the Battle of Tsushima. When Hatsuse and Yashima were struck by lightning, Terajima was credited with rescuing survivors as a shortboat commander. After the war, he was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Sixth Class.
Submarine career
After the war, Terajima travelled to the United Kingdom with Yuriichi Edahara at the Kashima and worked as a gunnery officer. Trusted by his superior Gunnery Chief Toyokazu Yamaoka, Terajima married Etsuko Yamaoka who was Yamaoka's younger sister. After returning to Japan, at the recommendation of Kenji Ide, who contributed to the introduction of submersibles, he worked in the early submarine corps. He serves as the captain of "Submarine No. 6", but when he was half submerged, he had an accident due to seawater intrusion, and he succeeded in surfacing with the help of a sergeant. Terajima tried to improve the ventilator that caused the accident, and took measures to prevent accidents, such as assigning personnel to the valves of the ventilator. While mourning Tsutomu Sakuma's death, Terajima pointed out that he had not assigned a ventilator.
Naval War College
After graduating from Class B of the Naval War College and its specialized course, he became an officer specializing in navigation and served as chief navigator on the Tsushima and Chitose as well as a staff officer of the 3rd Fleet. He then graduated from the first selection of the 31st class of the Marine Corps to Class A of the Naval War College with Hasegawa, Takayoshi Katō and Mitsumasa Yonai being in the same class. According to Terajima himself, his grades at Marine University weren't excellent. Terajima's biography cites that the reason for this was that he didn't pander to his instructors. While he was in school, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Commander and after graduation, he was appointed as a staff officer of the military general staff.