United States Fleet Activities Yokosuka - History

History

When Commodore Matthew Perry arrived in Japan in 1853, using naval pressure to open up Japan to foreign trade, Yokosuka was a quaint, native fishing village. In 1860, Lord Oguri Kozuke-no-Suke, Minister of Finance to the Tokugawa Shogunate Government, decided that "If Japan is to assume an active role in world trade, she must have proper facilities to build and maintain large seagoing vessels." He called upon the French Consul General, Léon Roches, and asked for the assistance of the French government to build a shipyard capable of handling large ships. The French engineer Léonce Verny was sent to Japan to accomplish the task. After the inspection of several sites it was discovered that Yokosuka topographically, if on a smaller scale, resembled the port of Toulon, France. It was decided to establish the shipyard here. It would be called the "Yokosuka Iron Works". In 1871, the name was changed to the "Yokosuka Navy Yard". It was the French engineer Louis-Émile Bertin 1840-1924 who reorganized "Yokosuka Navy Yard" completely from 1886.

Yokosuka was to become one of the main arsenals of the Imperial Japanese Navy into the 20th century, in which were built battleships such as Yamashiro, and aircraft carriers such as Hiryu and Shokaku. Major Naval aircraft were also designed at the Yokosuka Naval Air Technical Arsenal.

During World War II, activities at the Yokosuka Navy Yard reached their peak. By 1944, the Yard covered 280 acres (1.1 km2) and employed over 40,000 workers. In addition to the shipbuilding plant, the yard also had a gun factory, ordnance and supply depots, a fuel storage facility, a seaplane base and a naval air station.