Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Yamaguchi, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan
About Raizō Tanaka
- Raizo Tanaka (?? ??, Tanaka Raizo, 27 April 1892 – 9 July 1969) was a rear admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during most of World War II.
- A specialist in the heavy torpedoes that were carried by all the destroyers and cruisers of the IJN, Tanaka mainly commanded destroyer squadrons, with a cruiser or two attached, and he was the primary leader of the "Tokyo Express" reinforcement and resupply shipments during the long campaign for the island of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands of the South Pacific Ocean.
- In his command capacity, Tanaka faced the surface task forces of the United States Navy and its few New Zealander allies many times, often achieving either a victory over, or a stalemate with, often larger enemy squadrons, mostly in night battles.
- From the Americans, Tanaka acquired the nickname of "Tenacious Tanaka" for his stalwart opposition. Tanaka's outstanding victory was in the Battle of Tassafaronga in which his squadron of destroyers defeated a much larger U.S.
- Navy force that included four heavy cruisers and their supporting destroyers.
- In this battle, Tanaka's heavily outgunned destroyers, caught by surprise, used their Long Lance torpedoes to hit four American cruisers, sinking USS Northampton and heavily damaging the other three.
- All but one of Tanaka's destroyers escaped the trap that the U.S.
- Navy had set for them, and they retired northward towards Rabaul.
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