Maizuru Chinjufu (Maizuru Naval District) (舞鶴鎮守府)
Maizuru Chinjufu was Chinjufu (navy base) of Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) located in Maizuru City, Kyoto. It was commonly called Maichin.
History
In its strategy against Russia, the Imperial Japanese Navy needed to set up a naval military base on the side of the Sea of Japan, and in 1889, decided to establish Chinjufu in Maizuru, singling out Maizuru Bay for its geographical features which were suitable as a naval port with its narrow entrance which could be easily defended while the calm inside of the bay could accommodate many ships.
However, the improvement of Kure Chinjufu (Kure Naval District) and Sasebo Chinjufu (Sasebo Naval District) was prioritized before Maizuru, and so the monetary compensation for the Sino-Japanese War paid by Ching was to be appropriated for building the naval port in Maizuru. Although the road work for the building site incurred a huge cost due to the mountainous geography of Maizuru, the land reclamation work had been almost completed at the end of 1899. At the same time construction of the facilities for Chinjufu began, and on October 1, 1901, Maizuru Chinjufu started operations under first Admiral Heihachiro TOGO who had been a vice admiral till then.
Chronological History
1889: Cabinet decided to set up the fourth naval district Chinjufu in Maizuru.
1897: Maizuru Yosai hohei daitai (Garrison Artillery) was deployed in Maizuru.
1901: Operations were started.
1903: Maizuru Navy Arsenal was opened.
1904: The Russo-Japanese War broke out. Maizuru Line was opened.
1923: According to the Washington Naval Treaty, Maizuru Chinjufu was downgraded to an echelon naval port. At the same time, the Navy Arsenal was also downgraded to Kosaku-bu (Engineering department).
1936: Maizuru Navy Kosaku-bu was raised to the Navy Arsenal.
1939: The echelon naval port was raised to Chinjufu.
1943: The second arms factory was set up in the Kuratani Industrial Park (Kyoto).
1945: The Pacific War (the Great East Asian War) ended.