Japanese naval mentoring continued into flag rank, with rear admirals still treated to an extent as admirals in training. Officers could belong to overlapping political and operational factions. Born in March 1887, Nagumo was eighteen when the Russo-Japanese War ended and had not served in it, separating him from a combat generation that shaped the navy's culture. After graduating eighth in 1908, he served aboard the protected cruisers Soya and Niitaka, the armoured cruisers Nisshin and Asama, the battleship Aki, the destroyer Hatsuyuki, the battlecruiser Kirishima, and the destroyer Sugi. Those rotations reveal an apprenticeship system designed to broaden officers before they settled into a specialty. Asama's role in developing torpedo officers and Nagumo's enthusiasm for destroyer service helped direct him toward torpedo warfare. His first independent command of Kisaragi in December 1917 followed this deliberately varied early career.
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How Japanese mentoring shaped Nagumo's apprenticeship
Nagumo's distance from the Russo-Japanese War generation and his rotation through many ship types show how the navy deliberately built a rounded officer before specialization.