Sakuma Tsutomu (佐久間勉)
Tsutomu SAKUMA (September 13, 1879 - April 15, 1910) was a naval officer of the Imperial Japanese Navy. His final rank in the Imperial Japanese Navy was daijo (Senior Lieutenant).
Career
He was born in Hachi Village, Mikata County, Fukui Prefecture (currently it is Wakasa-cho) as the second son of Yoshimori SAKUMA, who was the Shinto priest of Maekawa-jinja Shrine and also the teacher of an elementary school. He went through general studies in Fukui Prefectural Obama Middle School, Kogyokusha Middle School/High School, then he studied at the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy and graduated as the 29th graduate bodies in December 1901,. Mitsumasa YONAI, who became the prime minister of Japan, was the graduate of the Naval Academy of the same year with SAKUMA.
In 1903, he was appointed as an second lieutenant of navy and when serving on Cruiser "Azuma," (the armored cruiser class), he experienced the Japanese-Russo War. He was on board of Cruiser "Kasagi" (the normal cruiser class) during the Battle of Tsushima.
After the war, he became the student of the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy department of torpedo and mine arts, and then he served on the torpedo and mine carrier, "Karasaki." (submarine carrier)
He successively held the following posts; the commander of the 1st Submarine Squadron and the captain of the No.4 Submarine of this squadron; the staff officer of the Imperial Japanese Naval 1st Fleet; the captain of Destroyer "Harukaze," (the first generation type) the division officer on Cruiser "Tsushima." (the protective cruiser class)
In November 1908, SAKUMA was appointed as the commander of the type 6th Submarine Squadron.
On April 15 of the same year, his type 6th submarine sank during the halfway submerging drill at the offshore of Shinminato, Yamaguchi Prefecture, and 14 officers on board, including the captain SAKUMA, died on duty. On April 17, the submarine was salvaged, and the note written by Sakuma before the death was found. On April 20, the contents of the note was published and it created great sensation; the official funeral service of Imperial Navy was held for those 14 victims of the naval duty, at the naval base of Kure City, Hiroshima Prefecture.
On April 26, the funeral of SAKUMA was held as the official village funeral service at Maekawa-jinja Shrine in his hometown.