Rabaul on New Britain in Papua New Guinea anchored the regional defense, while Second Fleet supplied mobile cruiser and destroyer power for Japanese operations. From 1903 to April 1945 the formation repeatedly served beside the main battle fleet or as an independent striking force. Vice Admiral Nobutake Kondo's record included senior staff and fleet commands and operations from China through Midway, New Guinea, Guadalcanal, and the wider Solomons campaign. The available profile gives much less detail on chief of staff Kazutaka Shiraishi, though it places him beside Kondo during the Malaya and Dutch East Indies operations and Operation MI. Second Fleet is credited with organizing much of the Tokyo Express and Japan's wider effort to sustain positions in the Solomons.
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Second Fleet organizes Japan's Solomons strike power
The Imperial Japanese Navy's Second Fleet supplied cruiser-destroyer striking power and organized much of the Solomons effort.