The Japanese Navy was the naval branch of the Japanese military in the 20th century.
One of the theories for the disappearance of Amelia Earhart's plane was that she and her navigator Fred Noonan were shot at and captured by this navy in 1937. (VOY: "The 37's")
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According to several production background reference sources, the following Starfleet starships were named after historical Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) vessels, which had all served in World War II,
- USS Kongo – after the eponymous IJN battleship
- USS Yamato – after the eponymous IJN battleship
- USS Musashi – after the eponymous IJN battleship
- USS Akagi – after the eponymous IJN aircraft carrier
All these real world historical vessels had been lost in battle during World War II. IJN Yamato and Musashi incidentally, had been the only two members of their class, but also the largest battleships ever built. The latter three Imperial Japanese Navy namesakes of the Starfleet vessels listed, have been confirmed in the various editions of the Star Trek Encyclopedia. The IJN pedigree for USS Kongo has been indicated in The Making of Star Trek (pp. 164-165).
Another Starfleet vessel with potential IJN connections concerned USS Yamaguchi, likely named after Admiral Tamon Yamaguchi who was killed in action during the Battle of Midway after he opted to remain on his doomed ship IJN Hiryu, one of the four Japanese aircraft carriers destroyed in that engagement, among other by planes of the USS Enterprise CV-6 (the – original – namesake of USS Yamaguchi's class sister USS Enterprise-C), as was IJN Akagi incidentally. It resulted in Admiral Yamaguchi becoming a national hero in his home country. Yet, since the name is also a common Japanese surname (a far less likely IJN candidate could have been navy lieutenant Yoshinori Yamaguchi, who died as a Kamikaze pilot in the war [1]) besides that of a prefecture in the country, it has never been confirmed either way by production sources.
The destroyer IJN Akatsuki was one of the four historical 20th century warships selected for an optional Star Trek: The Next Generation upgrade in the online World of Warships computer game during a Star Trek event which ran from 11 July-7 August 2024 (which incidentally, also included the nemesis of Akagi and Hiryu, the Enterprise CV-6); the Akatsuki upgrade option consisted of a D'deridex-class Romulan warbird disguise, with the additional option of having her commanded by Sela. The historical Akatsuki too, was lost in battle during the second world war.