About

The IJN Akagi

Akagi is Japanese (赤城) for Red Castle. In World War 2, Akagi was also the name of an Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carrier which saw heavy action in the Pacific War and was fatally damaged and sunk during the Battle of Midway in 1942.

The story of the IJN Akagi, the Battle of Midway and in fact that whole conflict between the US and Japan is one of intense drama, sacrifice and untold loss on a scale that often defies belief.

At the same time this era gave rise to a generation of men and women with whom I feel a very strong connection based on the values they brought to the fore.

Loyalty, persistence, honor, individual initiative and a sense of duty to meet the nation’s call with whatever resources happened to be available. These are some of the values that bring us, almost a century later, to refer to them as the Golden Generation. And it is these values which I try to live by every day as a father, a husband and an employee.

The Battle of Midway above all is a story that shows the advantage of having access to the right information and data. Not many will have heard of then-Commander Joseph “Joe” Rochefort and his team of U.S. signals intelligence (SIGINT) analysts at Station Hypo. Nonetheless their work was pivotal in securing victory in the pacific.

The intelligence principles that demonstrated their value at Midway remain relevant in spite of the vast technological differences between today and 1942. The technical ability to collect information, the ability to contextualize, understand, and present that information as intelligence to commanders in a coherent and understandable way … will likely remain paramount in the future.

Lieutenant Commander Mark Munson, Naval Intelligence officer, 2016