Editing Takeo Kurita (20th c.)

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| image               = Takeo Kurita.jpg
| caption             = 
| name                = Takeo Kurita
| birthdate           = 28 April 1889
| died                = 19 December 1977
| Occupation          = Admiral
| penname             = 
| Sarnaname           = 
| Forumhandle         = 
| BTPersona           = 
| homepage            = 
}}
'''Takeo Kurita''' was a famous [[twentieth century]] Japanese admiral. He is one of the few real-world historical persons in [[BattleTech]] with a fictional component, in this case his line of descendants–in BattleTech, he is held to be the ancestor of [[Shiro Kurita]], who was the founder of the [[Draconis Combine]]. The BattleTech timeline, which begins to deviate from real history around the year 1988, posits that descendants of Takeo Kurita would form [[House Kurita]], the ruling dynasty of the [[Draconis Combine]], in the [[twenty-fourth century]].<ref name=HK9>''House Kurita (The Draconis Combine)'', p. 9, "Kearny And Fuchida"</ref><ref name=SL9>''The Star League'', p. 9, "Timeline: 2014 - 2027"</ref><ref name=HK24>''House Kurita (The Draconis Combine)'', p. 24, "Conquest of Resistance"</ref>

==Fictional BattleTech descendants==
In BattleTech history, Takeo Kurita's great-great grand-niece [[Katherine Kurita]] married [[Takayoshi Fuchida]] in the spring of [[2021]]. From that marriage descended the line that would ultimately form the empire that became the Draconis Empire in [[2319]].<ref name=HK9/><ref name=HK24/> His great-great-great-great [[Takeo Kurita (21st c.)|grand-nephew]], the grandson of Takayoshi and Katherine, had the same name and would be known in history for his military actions while resolving strikes in [[Brazil]].<ref name=HK10>''House Kurita (The Draconis Combine)'', p. 10, "Politics and Technology"</ref>

==Nonfictional history==
The following biographical section is segregated because it is nonfictional real-world information, [[canon]]ical the BattleTech universe from an off-hand mentioning in ''[[Experimental Technical Readout: 1945]]'' and implicitly also because the BattleTech timeline only begins to substantially deviate from the real world timeline in ca. 1988 according to an official ruling by the [[BattleTech Line Developer]].

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[[w:Takeo Kurita|Takeo Kurita]] (28 April 1889 - 19 December 1977) was a [[w:Vice Admiral|Vice Admiral]] in the [[w:Imperial Japanese Navy|Imperial Japanese Navy]] during [[w:World War II|World War II]], and, with the famous super-battleship ''[[w:Japanese battleship Yamato|Yamato]]'' as his flagship, the commander of arguably the most powerful fleet in human history.

Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita is best known for being Commander-in-Chief of the 2nd IJN Fleet from 1943 on, which included the ''Yamato'' and her sister ship, ''[[w:Japanese battleship Musashi|Musashi]]'' (famous for being the heaviest battleships ever constructed), 3 other battleships, 10 cruisers and 13 destroyers (but no aircraft carriers). After his flagship, the cruiser ''Atago'', was sunk by an American submarine six days prior to the [[w:Battle of Leyte Gulf|Battle of Leyte Gulf]], forcing Kurita to swim for his life, he transferred his flag to the ''Yamato''.

In the [[w:Battle off Samar|Battle off Samar]] (central part of the Battle of Leyte Gulf), Kurita's fleet ran into American task force "Taffy 3", composed of escort carriers and destroyers, 30 minutes after dawn. Believing he had chanced upon the carriers of the enemy 3rd Fleet, Vice Admiral Kurita ordered an immediate general attack although his ships were just in the process of changing their steaming formation from nighttime to air defense formation. His vastly superior force thus attacked in an uncoordinated fashion, exacerbated by the flagship ''Yamato'' falling far behind while avoiding an aerial torpedo attack. Kurita effectively lost tactical control of the battle. Facing dogged resistance from Taffy 3 (with additional air support from Taffy 2), Kurita mauled Taffy 3 but suffered relatively high losses in return and ordered his forces to regroup after about two and a half hours. Upon learning of the destruction of other nearby IJN forces, he decided to retreat.

After the war, he found work as a scrivener and masseur. It was not until late in his life that he talked about the war; he told his biographer that he withdrew because he felt the war was lost, and did not believe in wasting the lives of his men for a futile effort.

::''See also: [[w:Takeo Kurita|Takeo Kurita (Wikipedia article)]]''
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==References==
<references/>

==Bibliography==
* ''[[House Kurita (The Draconis Combine)]]''
* ''[[The Star League]]''


[[Category:Pre-Terran Alliance Characters|Kurita (20th c.), Takeo]][[Category:PeopleReal|Kurita, Takeo]]