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Japanese ship names follow different conventions from those typical in the West. Merchant ship names often contain the word maru at the end (meaning circle), while warships are never named after people, but rather after objects such as mountains, islands, weather phenomena, or animals.
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The word maru (丸, meaning "circle") is often attached to Japanese ship names. The first ship known to follow this practice was the Nippon Maru, flagship of daimyō Toyotomi Hideyoshi's 16th century fleet.
Several theories purport to explain this practice:
Today many commercial and private ships are still named using this convention.
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When the Imperial Japanese Navy was formed, the Ministry of the Navy submitted potential ship names to the Emperor for approval. During the early years ships were often donated by the Shogunate or Japanese clans and the original clan names were kept.
In 1891 the procedure was changed due to changes in the government structure. Two ship names were submitted by the Minister of the Navy to the Lord Chamberlain who then presented the choices to the Emperor. The Emperor could either pick one of the suggested names or one of his own devising.
Ships captured during the First Sino-Japanese War kept their original names but with Japanese pronunciation. For example, the Chinese battleship Chen Yuan became Chin'en in Japanese service.
In 1876 the Minister of the Navy was given the authority to choose the names of torpedo boats without imperial approval. In 1902 the authority to name destroyers was delegated to the Minister of the Navy as well.
In 1895 a proposal was made by the Minister of the Navy in an attempt to establish some standard. He proposed that battleships and cruisers be named for provinces or shrines dedicated to protecting Japan, that names of other warships be selected from the names for Japan or provinces.
Ships captured during the Russo-Japanese War were renamed with Japanese names. Some of these vessels were given names related to where they were captured or some other aspect of the war, such as the month of capture. Some Russian ships were given Japanese names that were phonetically similar to their original Russian names (example: Angara became Anegawa).
In 1921 the Minister of the Navy was given authority to name all ships except battleships, battlecruisers, and cruisers. In any event the Navy had to report the new name to the Emperor immediately.
On 23 April 1905, Naval Minister Gonbee Yamamoto reported to the throne about a new ship naming standard. It was decided on 1 August 1905.
However, second class and third class cruisers ended up with river names because it became complicated.
It passed through some changes afterwards, the broad categories of names are given here, with examples, however, if the name is the succession to a ship's name, it is excluded from following contents.
Prior to the end of World War II Japanese ship names were rendered in kanji; after the end of the war this tradition was abandoned in favor of hiragana to separate the perception of the Maritime Self-Defense Forces from the old navy.
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The English translations of the Japanese warships provide names; the literal translation of the characters does not necessarily represent how the name is perceived to the Japanese. For example, Akagi is probably perceived as "red castle" by Japanese about as often as Philadelphia is perceived as the "city of brotherly love" by Americans.
There is a tendency for translations of Japanese names to be somewhat fanciful. For example, Shōkaku is often translated as "crane flying in heaven", but "flying crane" or "soaring crane" is a more accurate translation. Another fanciful translation is "land of divine mulberry trees" for Fusō—fuso was a Chinese name for a mythical tree supposed to grow to the east, hence an old poetic word for Japan.
In World War II, the composition of the Japanese Navy was a military secret. US Naval Intelligence built up knowledge of enemy ships through photographic reconnaissance, interrogation of prisoners, and signal interception. Inevitably there were mistakes and misinterpretations; some of these have been repeated in post-war accounts that rely on US Navy documents. For example, a prisoner of war after the battle of Midway reported the existence of an aircraft carrier named Hayataka. This was a misreading of the characters 隼鷹 in kun-yomi, while they in this case are properly read in on-yomi as Jun'yō. Accordingly, many US documents refer to the carrier as Hayataka or its class as the Hayataka class. In another example, when Joseph F. Enright claimed the sinking of the Japanese Aircraft Carrier Shinano , US naval intelligence was originally only willing to credit him with sinking a cruiser; this was in part because they believed the name "Shinano" (derived from intercepted Japanese transmissions) referred to the Shinano River (thereby denoting a cruiser), when in fact the name referred to the Shinano province of Japan. (Shinano had begun construction as a Yamato-class battleship and was thus named for a province, before being converted into an aircraft carrier following the Battle of Midway.)
The I-201-class submarines were submarines of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. These submarines were of advanced design, built for high underwater speed, and were known as Sentaka-Dai type submarine or Sentaka type submarine. The type name, was shortened to Suichū Kōsoku Sensuikan Ō-gata.
The Type B1 submarine, also called I-15-class submarine was the first group of boats of the Type B cruiser submarines built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the 1940s. In total 20 were built, starting with I-15, which gave the series their alternative name.
The Kaichū type submarine submarines were double-hulled medium-sized submarines of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. They were derived from the Kaigun-shiki Chū-gata Sensuikan.
The Unryū-class aircraft carriers were World War II Japanese aircraft carriers. Sixteen ships of the class were planned under the Maru Kyū Programme and the Kai-Maru 5 Programme. However, only three of the Unryū-class carriers were completed.
The Kaidai-type submarine was a type of first-class submarine operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) before and during World War II. The type name was shortened to Kaigun-shiki Ōgata Sensuikan (海軍式大型潜水艦) Navy Large Type Submarine.
The Akizuki-class destroyers was a class of destroyers of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) built during World War II to complement the Kagerō class, primarily for the role of anti-aircraft screening for carrier battle groups. The class was also designated the Type-B Destroyer, from their plan name. During the war, the class proved to be a very capable multipurpose platform and was well regarded in the IJN.
Japanese destroyers of World War II included some of the most formidable destroyers of their day. This came as a surprise to the Allies, who had generally underestimated Japanese technical capabilities. The Japanese had reassessed their naval needs in the mid-1920s and, placing an emphasis on ship and weapons technology and night-fighting expertise, developed a completely new destroyer design. Subsequent development from one destroyer class to the next was not, however, a smooth progression. Aside from the usual changes arising from experience, serious design faults also came to light and naval treaties imposed restrictions. As a result, the early "Special Type" destroyers required significant changes and the specifications of subsequent classes was reduced in one way or another. Naval treaties were later abrogated in 1937 and so destroyer development continued without regard to limits.
The I-361 class submarine, also called Type-D submarine or Sen'yu/Sen'yu-Dai type submarine was a type of the 1st class submarine in the Imperial Japanese Navy serving during the Second World War. The type name, was shortened to Yusō Sensuikan Ō-gata.
The Cruiser submarine Type-A was a class of submarine in the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), which served during the Second World War. The Type-A submarines were built to take a role of the command ships for submarine squadrons. For this reason they had equipment for a headquarters, better radio facilities and a floatplane.
The Cruiser submarine Type-C was one of the first classes of submarine in the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) to serve during the Second World War. Type-C submarines were better armed than the Type-A and Type-B. The Type-Cs were also utilized as Kō-hyōteki or Kaiten mother ships, for this reason they were not equipped with aviation facilities.
The Cruiser submarine Type-B was a class of submarine in the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) which served during World War II. The Type-B submarines were similar to the Type-A apart from not having the headquarters installation.
The Junsen type submarine was a ship class of submarines of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). There were four submarine designs of the Junsen type: J1, a modified J1, J2 and the J3.
The I-351-class submarine was a class of tanker/transport submarines built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during World War II. The IJN called this type of submarine Senho type submarine. The type name, was shortened to Hokyū Sensuikan. The IJN designed these submarines to support flying boats in forward areas. By the time the first submarine was finished, this capability was no longer needed and she was converted into a tanker. That boat, I-351, was sunk on the return leg of her second voyage in 1945; the second boat, I-352, was destroyed by an American air raid before she was completed. Four additional submarines were planned, but were cancelled before they were laid down.
The Ha-101-class submarine was a transport submarine built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during World War II. The IJN planned to build 12 boats, but only 10 vessels were completed by the end of the war. The IJN called these submarines Sen'yu-Shō type submarine. The type name, was shortened to Yusō Sensuikan Ko-gata.
The Ro-100-class submarine was a group of medium-sized coastal submarines built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during World War II. The IJN official designation for this class was Ko type submarine or Senshō type submarine. They are also known as Type KS submarine. The type name was shortened to Sensuikan Ko-gata.
The Ha-201-class submarine were a class of small submarines designed for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). They were first deployed in 1945, but never saw combat. The Ha-201's were designed from the outset to have high underwater speed and were based on the earlier Submarine No.71 prototype. The official designation of the submarine was Sentaka-Shō type submarine. The type name was shortened to Suichū Kōsoku Sensuikan Ko-gata.
Imperial Japanese Navy ship classifications went through various changes between 1871 and 1945, as technology changed and new ship classes were added while those that became obsolete were discontinued. There were efforts to translate some ships' classes that were imported or in use by other navies, while incorporating any classification system into Japanese language conventions and maintaining an internal consistency.
I-52, later I-152, was the second prototype of the Kaidai-class submarine of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Commissioned in 1925, she became a training ship in 1935 and was decommissioned in 1942 during the early months of the Pacific campaign of World War II. She subsequently served as the stationary training hulk Haikan No. 14 and was scrapped after the war.
Murakumo was the lead ship of six Murakumo-class destroyers, built for the Imperial Japanese Navy in the late 1890s. Murakumo took part in the Japanese response to the Boxer Rebellion (1900), saw action in several major engagements during the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905), and served during World War I (1914–1918).