Ships
- IJN Hosho Captain from 1 April 1923 · Relieved on 1 December 1923
Heizaburo Fukuyo was born on 18 February 1879 in Fukuoka. He graduated from the Naval Academy with the 28th class on 13 December 1900, twenty-first of 105, and went to sea that day as a midshipman in the cruiser Itsukushima. In August 1901 he joined the battleship Asahi. On 18 January 1902 he was commissioned an ensign and assigned to the destroyer Sazanami, and in January 1903 he moved to the armored cruiser Yakumo.
He became a lieutenant junior grade in September 1903 and stayed in Yakumo through the war with Russia. In September 1904 he was an acting division officer, and on 12 January 1905 he was promoted to lieutenant and confirmed as division officer. His decorations included the Fifth Class of the Order of the Golden Kite. After the war he served a short tour as a division officer in the Yokosuka naval barracks, then from December 1905 as navigator of the cruiser Akitsushima.
In September 1907 he entered the Naval Staff College, passing through the B course and a specialized course before returning to sea in 1908 as navigator of the coast-defense ship Mishima and then of the cruiser Niitaka. From December 1909 he took the college A course, counted as its ninth class, and on 1 December 1910 he was promoted to lieutenant commander. In 1911 he was navigator of the cruiser Ikoma. On 22 January 1912 he took command of the gunboat Sumida.
From December 1913 he served on the staff of the Kure Naval District, with supervision of the coastal lookout stations. During the First World War he returned briefly to Ikoma as acting navigator, and in February 1915 he became navigator of the battlecruiser Kongo. Promoted to commander that December, he went back to the Kure staff. In December 1916 he joined the Naval General Staff and soon added duty as an instructor at the Naval Staff College. In November 1918 he was appointed to the staff of the Fifth Squadron. On 1 December 1919 he was promoted to captain and given command of the cruiser Akashi.
That command ended in March 1920. Fukuyo returned to the Naval General Staff, was attached for duty to the Government-General of Taiwan, and from 5 April 1920 was stationed in Taipei. In May 1922 he took an official post in the aviation bureau. On 1 April 1923 he became captain of the aircraft carrier Hosho, with an additional attachment to the Yokosuka naval air group, relieving Jiro Toshima. The first landings on her deck had been made in February and March 1923, while Toshima was still in command. Through the rest of 1923 Hosho was the only carrier yet completed from the keel for that purpose. She still had a small starboard island, funnels that could be lowered clear of the deck, a flight deck that sloped down toward the bow, and longitudinal wires for stopping aircraft.
On 1 December 1923 he was relieved and appointed captain of the battleship Ise. Ryutaro Kaizu succeeded him in Hosho. The island and the deck crane came off in a 1924 refit, during Kaizu's command. Fukuyo remained in Ise for a year. On 1 December 1924 he was promoted to rear admiral and attached to the Kure Naval District. He was placed on the waiting list on 2 March 1925 and transferred to the reserve on 20 March 1925.
He moved to the second reserve on 18 February 1937. On 1 April 1941 he was returned to the first reserve, and on 18 February 1942 he was placed on the retired list. He died on 6 February 1952 at the age of 72.