Naval War College (Japan)

Naval War College

海軍大学校 Kaigun Daigakkō
Commemorative postcard showing Naval Museum (left) and Naval War College (right), circa 1900
Type	War College
Active	1888–1945
Affiliation	Imperial Japanese Navy
Location	Tokyo, Japan

The Naval War College (海軍大学校, Kaigun Daigakkō^?), Short form: 海大 Kaidai) was the staff college of the Imperial Japanese Navy, responsible for training officers for command positions either on warships, or in staff roles.

In the 1880s, the Imperial Japanese Navy realized the need for post-graduate study by officer graduates of the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy. Naval Minister Saigō Tsugumichi authorized the formation of the Naval War College on 14 July 1888 in Tsukiji, Tokyo, and the College accepted its first class from 28 August 1888. The same year the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy moved from Tsukiji to Etajima in Hiroshima Prefecture.

The Navy turned to the United Kingdom for assistance in modernizing and Westernizing, and the Royal Navy provided military advisors to assist in the development of the curriculum. The first director of the Naval War College was Inoue Kaoru and one of the foremost of the early foreign advisors was Captain John Ingles, who lectured at the college from 1887 to 1893. Ingles not only introduced the elements of western tactics, but also stressed the importance of command officers in mathematics, physics, and the technologies necessary to operate steam warships.