born April 4, 1884, Nagaoka, Japan
died April 18, 1943, Solomon Islands
Japanese naval officer.
He fought in the Russo-Japanese War and thereafter rose to become commander in chief of Japan's Combined Fleet in 1941. When it was decided to go to war with the U.S., Yamamoto asserted that the only chance for a Japanese victory lay in a surprise attack that would cripple U.S. naval forces in the Pacific and conceived of the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor . He then sought to destroy the remnants of the U.S. fleet, principally its aircraft carriers, but the Japanese lost the resulting Battle of Midway in June 1942. His campaign in the Solomon Islands was also unsuccessful. He was killed when the U.S. (which had broken the Japanese communications codes) discovered his whereabouts and shot down his plane over Bougainville island.