Ships
- IJN Myoko Captain from 2 March 1943
Katsuhei Nakamura was born on 5 December 1894 and became an officer of the Imperial Japanese Navy. He stood second in the 45th class of the Naval Academy, passed through the torpedo and gunnery schools, and completed the 27th class of the Naval War College. His years before the Pacific War ran through staff billets in Tokyo, duty with the fleet, and service abroad.
From the end of November 1929 until January 1932 he served in the United States as an assistant naval attaché. After his return he worked as a Navy Ministry adjutant and with the Naval General Staff, then as a staff officer of the First Fleet, and in the first section of the Naval Affairs Bureau. During the fighting in China he was senior staff officer of the Third Fleet and was wounded on the bridge of the flagship Izumo. He afterward taught at the Naval War College.
On 15 November 1939 he took command of the minelayer Okinoshima. In April 1940 he went back to China on the naval staff attached to the embassy, as a member of the mission of Ambassador Nobuyuki Abe. From 5 November 1940 until February 1943 he was chief adjutant of the Navy Ministry, and that shore post held him in Tokyo through the opening year of the Pacific War. On 25 February 1943 he was assigned to Cruiser Division 5. On 2 March he relieved Teruhiko Miyoshi and became captain of the heavy cruiser Myoko.
Myoko was at Truk with Haguro when Nakamura came aboard. The evacuation of Guadalcanal had already been covered while Miyoshi was still captain. Earlier in the war the cruiser had flown the flag of Takeo Takagi and had been commanded by Teijiro Yamazumi. Nakamura’s first long passage in her was the run home in May. On 8 May 1943 Myoko and Haguro left Truk with the battleship Yamato and reached Yokosuka on 13 May. American troops had landed on Attu on 11 May, and the two cruisers were sent north to Paramushiro, arriving about 19 May. They stayed in northern waters into June, then sailed for Sasebo.
During the summer refit at Sasebo, twin 25 mm anti-aircraft mounts were added and a Type 21 air-search radar was fitted. Myoko then went back to the central Pacific. In August, Cruiser Division 5 helped move an army detachment toward New Guinea and returned to Truk. On 18 September she sortied with Yamato, Nagato, the carriers Shokaku and Zuikaku, and the heavy cruisers Takao and Atago. Vice Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa took that force toward the Marshalls after American carriers struck Tarawa and Makin. The ships made no contact and came back to Truk. On 9 October Cruiser Division 5 was attached to the Eighth Fleet, and Myoko reached Rabaul on 13 October.
On the night of 1–2 November 1943 Nakamura took Myoko into the Battle of Empress Augusta Bay. Rear Admiral Sentaro Omori directed the operation from the cruiser. The force, built around Myoko and Haguro, with the light cruisers Sendai and Agano and several destroyers, was sent against the American landing on Bougainville and a small troop lift. Rear Admiral Aaron Merrill’s cruisers and destroyers, fighting with radar, opened the action. In the maneuvering Myoko collided with the destroyer Hatsukaze and sheared into the destroyer’s bow. American ships sank the crippled Hatsukaze afterward. American gunfire sank Sendai. Haguro was hit several times by shells that did little harm, and Myoko took a shell hit along with the damage from the collision. Omori broke off, and the troop lift turned back.
Nakamura was promoted to rear admiral on 1 November 1943, as that Bougainville operation began, and he remained in command of Myoko until 5 December. On that date Itsu Ishihara relieved him, and Nakamura went to the Naval General Staff. Sutejiro Onoda and Hokao Kagayama commanded Myoko in 1945, after his tour had ended.
In January 1944 he returned to China as resident naval officer in Nanjing and as naval attaché with the embassy. From 20 May 1944 he was also deputy chief of staff of the China Area Fleet. He left those duties in July. On 7 August 1944 he became head of the General Affairs Department of the Naval Aviation Headquarters, and he was still in that post at the surrender. He died on 29 June 1971.