ABSTRACT
Yamamoto, Admiral Isoroku, 18841943 Yamamoto was Japan’s greatest naval strategist and Commander. As Minister of Navy from 1938 and Commander in Chief of the 1st Fleet from 1939 he was responsible for the great build up and improvement of the Japanese Imperial Navy and naval air forces before the war. Although opposed to war with the United States on the grounds that Japan must inevitably lose a protracted war against such a powerful opponent, Yamamoto saw that Japan’s only chance lay in a preemptive strike to cripple the US Navy from the start. Thus he began planning the operation against Pearl Harbor in early 1940, which succeeded in crippling the US Pacific Fleet on 7 December 1941.
