was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II, remembered for his extensive and revealing war diary, role at the Battle of Leyte Gulf, and kamikaze suicide hours after the announced surrender of Japan at the end of the war. Biography Early career Born to a farming family in rural Akaiwa District, Okayama (now part of Okayama city, Okayama prefecture), Ugaki entered the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy on 11 September 1909 and graduated in its 40th class on 17 July 1912. He placed ninth out of 144 cadets in his class, and was good friends with his Naval Academy classmates Tamon Yamaguchi and Yoshio Suzuki, both of whom were killed in action during World War II. He served as a midshipman on the armored cruiser and made a training cruise to Australia aboard her. On 1 May 1913, he was transferred to the protected cruiser and was commissioned as ensign on 1 December 1913. He was assigned to the battlecruiser on 27 May 1914. World War I Japan entered World War I on the side of the Allies on 23 August 1914. During the early weeks of the war, Ibuki, with Ugaki aboard, participated in the Allied search for the Imperial German Navy light cruiser in the Indian Ocean, joined the Royal Navy armoured cruiser and protected cruiser in escorting a convoy carrying the main body of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force from New Zealand across the Tasman Sea and to Albany, Western Australia, and along with the Royal Australian Navy light cruiser escorted a convoy carrying the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps across the Indian Ocean from Australia to the Middle East. Ugaki was promoted to sub-lieutenant on 1 December 1915 while aboard Ibuki. Ugaki subsequently transferred to the battlecruiser on 1 December 1916. Kongō experimented with handling airplanes and operated off China during his tour. On 10 September 1917, he reported aboard the armored cruiser , and aboard her made a training cruise in company with the armored cruiser to the west coast of North America with the Japanese Naval Academy′s 45th class aboard between 2 March and 6 July 1918. He was reassigned to the destroyer on 1 August 1918, and was aboard her when the war ended on 11 November 1918. Interwar After his promotion to lieutenant on 1 December 1918, Ugaki attended the Naval Gunnery School, and subsequently was assigned as