He is notable for the humanitarian act of rescuing 442 enemy British and American sailors from the Java Sea in 1942.

Born in 1901, Kudō graduated from the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy in 1923 and was assigned to the light cruiser Yubari as a midshipman, followed by the battleship Nagato in October 1924.

The survivors had been adrift for some 20 hours, in rafts and lifejackets or clinging to floats, many coated in oil and unable to see.

[1] This humanitarian decision by Lieutenant Commander Kudō placed the Ikazuchi at risk of submarine attack, and interfered with her fighting ability due to the sheer numbers of rescued sailors.

[5][6][7] According to the same documentary, humility and sadness sealed Kudō Shunsaku's lips after Ikazuchi was sunk with all its crew, thus he never told anyone about this heroic rescue.