Baron was an admiral in the

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. His brother, Katō Yasuhisa, was a general in the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor ...

, and his adoptive son was the biological son of Admiral Dewa Shigetō.

Biography

Katō was born in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

, as the third son of Katō Yasukichi, a ''

hatamoto A was a high ranking samurai in the direct service of the Tokugawa shogunate of feudal Japan. While all three of the shogunates in Japanese history had official retainers, in the two preceding ones, they were referred to as ''gokenin.'' Howev ...

'' retainer of the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in ...

. He attended the Numazu Military Academy, and in October 1883 graduated at the top of his class from the 10th class of the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy. One of his classmates was

Yamashita Gentarō Baron was an admiral in the early Imperial Japanese Navy. Biography Early career Yamashita was the second son of a samurai in the service of the Yonezawa Domain and was born in the castle town of Yonezawa, Dewa Province (present day Yamagata pr ...

. He served as a torpedo officer on the ''Jingei'', and . With the opening of the Sasebo Naval District, he was appointed secretary to Admiral Akamatsu Noriyoshi. From July 1891 to March 1893, Katō served as chief weapons officer on the cruiser . He was then sent to Germany as part of the entourage of Prince Fushimi Hiroyasu. He remained with the prince in Germany through the duration of the

First Sino-Japanese War The First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 1894 – 17 April 1895) was a conflict between China and Japan primarily over influence in Korea. After more than six months of unbroken successes by Japanese land and naval forces and the loss of the p ...

. After his return to Japan, he served as weapons officer on the cruiser and on the staff of the Readiness Fleet. In August 1897, Katō was assigned as secretary to Navy Minister Saigō Tsugumichi, who was soon promoted to fleet admiral. Katō was promoted to commander. Katō returned to sea duty from December 1898 to April 1901, serving as

executive officer An executive officer is a person who is principally responsible for leading all or part of an organization, although the exact nature of the role varies depending on the organization. In many militaries and police forces, an executive officer, ...

on the cruisers and . He then returned to Germany to oversee the completion of the cruiser , and was executive officer on her voyage to Japan. From April 1901, he served with the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff, where he enjoyed the confidence of Admiral Itō Sukeyuki. Katō met with business and political leaders, reviewed the designs of new warships, and was consulted on political developments and naval strategy. In October 1902, he was promoted to captain and returned to sea in April 1903 as captain of ''Akitsushima''. At the start of the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...

, Katō was captain of the cruiser , an obsolete vessel not regarded as capable for front-line combat duties. However, in January 1905 he was transferred to command the cruiser and was thus able to participate in the crucial

Battle of Tsushima The Battle of Tsushima (Japanese:対馬沖海戦, Tsushimaoki''-Kaisen'', russian: Цусимское сражение, ''Tsusimskoye srazheniye''), also known as the Battle of Tsushima Strait and the Naval Battle of Sea of Japan (Japanese: 日 ...

. After the end of the war, Katō served for ten months in the Naval Personnel Department before returning to sea to captain the cruiser , followed by the battleships and . In May 1908, he became chief-of-staff of the Maizuru Naval District. He was then promoted to rear admiral, and spent the next three years as commandant of the Maizuru Naval Arsenal . In May 1911, Katō became commander of the Training Fleet and in April 1912 became commander of the Sasebo Naval Arsenal, followed in December 1912 by promotion to vice admiral and the post of commander of the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal. In December 1913, Katō returned to sea as commander-in-chief of the Second Fleet. With the start of

, the IJN 2nd Fleet was deployed to the Siege of Tsingtao. At Tsingtao, Katō commanded a fleet of four battleships, two cruisers, 15 destroyers along with submarines, torpedo boats and other auxiliary vessels.Tucker, The Great War 1914-1918, page 196 In July 1916, Katō was elevated to the ''

kazoku The was the hereditary peerage of the Empire of Japan, which existed between 1869 and 1947. They succeeded the feudal lords () and court nobles (), but were abolished with the 1947 constitution. Kazoku ( 華族) should not be confused with ...

'' peerage with the title of baron (''danshaku''). He was also awarded the Order of the Golden Kite, 2nd class and the

Order of the Rising Sun The is a Japanese order, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese government, created on 10 April 1875 by decree of the Council of State. The badge features rays of sunlight ...

. That December, he was appointed commander of the Kure Naval District and in July 1918 was promoted to full admiral. In December 1919, he was appointed a naval councilor and entered the reserves from January 1923. As a naval councilor, Katō spoke out frequently in politics, and was a strong advocate of the “big guns and big battleships” clique within the Navy. Despite his experiences at Tsingtao, he derided the development of

naval aviation Naval aviation is the application of Military aviation, military air power by Navy, navies, whether from warships that embark aircraft, or land bases. Naval aviation is typically projected to a position nearer the target by way of an aircraft ...

as of only minor importance. Katō was especially vehement in his opposition to the Washington Naval Treaty and was thus a prominent member of the Fleet Faction within the Imperial Japanese Navy. Katō collapsed while in a meeting with Prince Fushimi in September 1927 and died shortly afterwards.

References

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kato, Sadakichi 1860s births 1943 deaths People from Tokyo Kazoku Japanese military personnel of the Russo-Japanese War Japanese military personnel of World War I Imperial Japanese Navy admirals Recipients of the Order of the Golden Kite Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George Japanese military personnel of the Boxer Rebellion