The Hiroshima prefecture-based shipbuilder, established in 1889 as Kure Chinjufu (Kure Naval Base), was one of the four principal naval shipyards owned by the Imperial Japanese Navy before World War II.
It built the infamous battleship Yamamoto, the flagship of the Imperial Japanese Navy. It was said to be the greatest and heaviest battleship in the world at the time, weighing 72,800 tons and outfitted with nine 18.1-inch
