Ships
- IJN Fuso Captain from 1 June 1943
Nobumichi Tsuruoka was born in 1894 and graduated from the Naval Academy on 16 December 1915, forty-third in a class of ninety-five. He began as a midshipman in the armored cruiser Azuma, moved to the battlecruiser Haruna, and was commissioned ensign at the end of 1916. The next two years took him to the cruiser Tone, the battleship Hizen, and a short staff assignment with the Fifth Squadron. After basic torpedo and gunnery courses he served in the destroyers Enoki and Kiri, the submarine tender Karasaki, and, as a lieutenant from December 1921, the destroyer Take, the cruiser Iwate, and the destroyer Hakaze.
Late in 1924 he shifted to submarines. He finished the submarine school course, joined Ro-20, and in December 1925 received his first command, the submarine Ro-21. Promoted lieutenant commander in December 1927, he completed the advanced submarine course, served briefly on the staff of the Combined Fleet, and then commanded Ro-16, I-59, and I-66. He made commander in November 1933 and took I-68 the following February. Shore duty followed, first with the Sasebo Guard Squadron and then as a supervisor of construction and ordnance in the naval shipbuilding command. He was promoted captain on 15 November 1938, led Submarine Division 11, and on 15 November 1939 moved to the surface fleet as commanding officer of the light cruiser Isuzu, a post he held until October 1941.
The Pacific War found him ashore at first, as chief inspector of the light cruiser Tama. In September 1942 he joined the staff of Cruiser Division 9 for a few days and then, on 5 September, took command of the light cruiser Kitakami. On 1 June 1943 he became captain of the battleship Fuso, relieving Keizo Komura, who was sent on to the battleship Musashi. Mitsuo Kinoshita had commanded Fuso from September 1941 until December 1942.
Tsuruoka joined Fuso at Hashirajima on 7 June 1943. The battleship Mutsu lay off the starboard quarter, and he went aboard to call on her captain, Miyoshi Teruhiko, a classmate from the academy. Around midday on 8 June, Mutsu exploded and sank. Fuso took 353 survivors from the water. A submarine warning was imposed at once and cancelled the same day. Divers stayed on the wreck for months, and Fuso served as the base for that work.
For the rest of 1943 the battleship remained mostly in home waters. Tsuruoka drilled the main battery and ran night practice with the secondary guns. In July Fuso docked at Kure to receive a Type 21 radar and more 25-millimeter antiaircraft guns. He was promoted rear admiral on 1 November 1943 and stayed in command. On 1 February 1944 Fuso left Truk with the battleship Nagato and a group of cruisers and destroyers as that base was cleared. The American submarine Permit sighted the formation, and the ships passed without being attacked.
Masami Ban relieved him at Lingga on 23 February 1944. Ban was still in command when Fuso was lost in Surigao Strait on 25 October 1944, and Ban was killed with the ship. Years later Tsuruoka judged that Fuso and her sister Yamashiro had been the wrong ships for the Pacific War. He remembered a full broadside as tolerable on deck, and he remembered the main-battery pattern opening up at long range. He also remembered one battle-power run in which he believed Fuso had made about 26 knots.
From Fuso he went to the Navy General Staff. On 8 April 1944 he took command of the Third Convoy Headquarters, and on 1 June he became chief supervisor in the Second Naval District. On 1 December 1944 he was given Minesweeper Division 31. On 15 August 1945 he was appointed chief of the submarine department at Kure Navy Yard. He retired on 25 September 1945 and died on 2 October 1984.