United States Fleet Activities Yokosuka

U.S. Fleet Activities Yokosuka logo

U.S. Fleet Activities Yokosuka, or Commander, Fleet Activities Yokosuka is a United States Navy base, in Yokosuka, Japan. Its mission is to maintain and operate base facilities for the logistic, recreational, administrative support and service of the U.S. Naval Forces Japan, U.S. 7th Fleet and other operating forces assigned in the Western Pacific. CFAY is the largest, most strategically important U.S. Naval installation in the western Pacific. As of 2005, it is commanded by Captain Gregory J. Cornish.

Fleet Activities Yokosuka comprises 2.3 km² (568 acres) and is located at the entrance of Tokyo Bay, 65 km (40 mi) south of Tokyo and approximately 30 km (20 mi) south of Yokohama on the Miura Peninsula in the Kanto region of the Pacific Coast in Central Honshu, Japan.

Fleet Activities, Yokosuka boasts the largest and best of everything the Navy has to offer. The 55 tenant commands which make up this impressive installation support WESTPAC operating forces, including principle afloat elements of the United States Seventh Fleet and Destroyer Squadron 15, including the only permanently forward-deployed aircraft carrier, USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63).

History

When Commodore Matthew Perry arrived in Japan in 1853 and an "Open Door" policy of trade with other countries was instituted, 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, Leon Roches, and asked for the assistance of the French government to build a shipyard capable of handling large ships. The French engineer Leonce 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".

Construction of the Yokosuka arsenal c.1870.

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 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.

US Navy base

On August 30, 1945, Vice Admiral Totsuka Michitaro, Commander of the Yokosuka Naval Base, surrendered his command to Rear Admiral Robert Carney, and the Base was peacefully occupied by U.S. Marines of the 6th Marine Division, British Marines and U.S. Naval personnel. War equipment was disposed of and the buildings once housing this equipment were converted into schools and churches for the Japanese people. Commander Fleet Activities Yokosuka (COMFLEACT) was created shortly after the occupation in 1945. As the Base became organized, the shipyard was deactivated and much of the equipment was sent to other countries as part of reparations. The repair ship USS Piedmont (AD-17) took charge of ship repair and maintenance, the hospital became a Naval Dispensary, and the Supply Department was organized with the mission to provide full support to the U.S. Fleet and shore-based activities. The Public Works Department was also established.

The best known Commander of Fleet Activities was the one who served here the longest, Captain Benton W. "Benny" Decker, who was in command from April, 1946 until June, 1950. When he assumed command, the base was fairly well-organized, and Captain Decker and his staff were able to devote their time to helping the townspeople economically, politically and socially. Buildings which had once housed war equipment were converted into schools, churches and hospitals for the people of Japan.

In May, 1946, the Marines at Yokosuka were redesignated Marine Barracks, U.S. Fleet Activities, Yokosuka. In April, 1947, the Ship Repair Department was organized, and the shops and dry docks were reactivated to maintain the ships of the U.S. Fleet in the Pacific. With the onset of the Korean War on June 25, 1950, Yokosuka Navy Base suddenly became very important and extremely busy.

The U.S., although still an occupying power in Japan, turned its full efforts to the support of South Korea. The Navy Dispensary was enlarged and expanded and was commissioned a U.S. Naval Hospital in 1950. The Naval Communications Facility, Yokosuka, was commissioned in January, 1951. In April 1951, the Ship Repair Department became a component command. It was redesignated the Ship Repair Facility. As the major naval ship repair facility in the Far East, the Yokosuka Facility assumed a vital role in maintenance and repair of the U.S. Seventh Fleet during the Korean and Vietnam conflicts.

The U.S. Navy base at Yokosuka.

In March, 1952, the geographical boundaries of the command of Commander Naval Forces Far East changed to exclude the Philippines, Marianas, Bonin and Volcano Islands. In December, 1952, the Headquarters were shifted from Tokyo to Yokosuka. The expanded Supply Department of Fleet Activities became the Naval Supply Depot, Yokosuka in August, 1952 and in 1960, the Naval Communications Facility was redesignated U.S. Naval Communications Station, Japan.

On December 1, 2005, the US Navy announced that in 2008 the USS Kitty Hawk will be replaced at its forward base in Yokosuka by the nuclear powered Nimitz class carrier USS George Washington. A US Navy spokesman said the decision was a mutual agreement between the United States and Japan. Hiroyuki Hosoda, spokesman for Japan's government, said, "We believe that the change (of the carriers) will lead to maintaining the solid presence of the U.S. Navy and contribute to keeping Japan's security and international peace into the future." This would be the first time a nuclear powered ship would be permanently based in Japan.

As of June 14, 2006, the U.S. embassy in Tokyo confirmed that the mayor of Yokosuka formally accepted the deployment of the USS George Washington in 2008.

Forward-deployed ships

(As of July 2006)
*USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63)
*USS Chancellorsville (CG-62)
*USS Cowpens (CG-63)
*USS Shiloh (CG-67) Will Arrive August 2006
*USS Curtis Wilbur (DDG-54)
*USS John S. McCain (DDG-56)
*USS Fitzgerald (DDG-62)
*USS Stethem (DDG-63)
*USS Lassen (DDG-82)
*USS Mustin (DDG-89)
*USS Gary (FFG-51)
*USS Vandegrift (FFG-48)
*USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19)

External links

*U.S. Fleet Activities Yokosuka official website

*Yokosuka Microwave Communications Site