Ships
- IJN Takao Captain from 23 February 1943 · Relieved on 28 October 1943
- IJN Musashi Captain from 12 August 1944 · In command when she was lost, 24 October 1944
Toshihira Inoguchi was born in Tottori Prefecture on 11 August 1896. He entered the Imperial Japanese Navy as a midshipman on 21 November 1918, and his first sea duty was in the cruiser Tokiwa. He became an ensign in 1919, a lieutenant in 1924, a lieutenant commander in 1929, and a commander in 1934. He was promoted captain on 15 November 1939. Gunnery was the work that made his name. He taught for long periods at the navy gunnery school and served as its chief instructor, and among his earlier commands was the fleet oiler Irō.
He returned to a fighting ship on 1 July 1942 as captain of the light cruiser Natori. In January 1943 two torpedoes struck Natori in the stern and tore the rudder away. The cruiser still reached base. Inoguchi left her on 20 January 1943 and was attached again to the Yokosuka Naval District. The posting ashore was brief. On 15 February 1943 he joined the staff of the Second Fleet, and on 23 February he took command of the heavy cruiser Takao.
Takao spent his months in her with the heavy cruisers in the central Pacific. She sortied toward Eniwetok from 18 to 25 September 1943 and again from 17 to 23 October, each time to meet American carrier raids. Neither cruise brought an action. On 28 October 1943 Inoguchi turned Takao over to Shigechika Hayashi and went back to Yokosuka.
On 1 December 1943 he became chief instructor at the Yokosuka Gunnery School, work that fitted the standing he already had as a gunnery specialist. He left that post on 1 August 1944 for the staff of Battleship Division 1. On 12 August he relieved Bunji Asakura and became captain of the battleship Musashi.
On 15 October 1944 he was promoted rear admiral and remained in command for the move against the American landing at Leyte. Musashi sailed in Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita’s surface force. On 24 October, in the Sibuyan Sea, American carrier aircraft struck her in wave after wave. Bombs and torpedoes left her low in the water and out of control, and the main antiaircraft director was knocked out. Inoguchi was wounded in the left shoulder. He ordered the crew to prepare to abandon ship, handed command to his executive officer, Captain Kenkichi Kato, and went to his sea cabin. Musashi capsized and sank that day with him still aboard. The navy promoted him vice admiral after his death, the rank dated 24 October 1944.
Men who got off the ship later said he had chosen to stay with her, and that he gave an ensign his sword and a letter asking the Emperor’s forgiveness. His younger brother, Rikihei Inoguchi, was a career officer as well and was promoted captain on 15 October 1944, the same day Toshihira became a rear admiral. Rikihei was then with the special-attack forces in the Philippines. On 3 November 1944 Toshihira’s son Satoshi was killed off Tacloban on a suicide flight and was promoted lieutenant after death.