Japanese Observers at Jutland

[Peter H]

A forgotten casualty of the Battle of Jutland in 1916--Commander Chiusuke Shimomura,IJN observer on HMS Queen Mary,and killed in action.

Queen Mary explodes at Jutland:

http://web.ukonline.co.uk/aj.cashmore/b ... nmary2.jpg


Two other Japanese officers were with the Royal Navy at Jutland--Commander Suetsugu Nobumasa aboard HMS Colossus,Lt Commander Imamura Shinjiro aboard a light cruiser.

Nobumasa(1880-1944) later became an Admiral and was the Japanese Minister of the Interior in 1937-39.He declared in 1934 that for the navy even war with the US was acceptable "if it will get us a budget."

Vice-Admiral Imamura Shinjiro(1880-1969) became the Chancellor, House of Chichibu,in 1936.

[Dreyer1916]

I had heard about a Japanese Prince being killed at Jutland. Do you know if one of these that man?

[Takao]

That would be Commander Chiusuke Shimomura. IIRC, it was "The Times" that reported that he was a Japanese Prince, of which I have my doubts. If he was a Prince, then he was not a direct relation to the Imperial throne.

Edit - Correction, that comes from "Kiel and Jutland" by Commander Georg von Hase(First Gunnery Officer of the "Derfflinger") pg. 162. Found here: http://archive.org/download/kieljutland ... seuoft.pdf

In the course of the day our destroyers picked
up two survivors of the Queen Mary, a mid-
shipman and a seaman, and brought them as
prisoners of war to Wilhelmshaven. According
to their account there were more than 1,400 men
on the Queen Mary, among whom was a Japanese
prince, the Naval Attache in London.

[hisashi]

下村忠助 (Lt.Cdr.Shimomura Chusuke) was from Yamagata prefecture. As far as I found, no Japanese prince have ever experienced a naval atache in Japanese embassies.

Note: Lt.Cdr. Prince Fushimi Hiroyasu stayed in London from 1907 to 1910. It was for 'study', common in elite IJN officers as Yamamoto spent his a few years (1919-1921) in the U.S. Perhaps that fact was so impressive to the Times staffs that they made a confusion.

[Peter H]

Pic from here : http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%8B% ... 0%E5%8A%A9