Updated:June 5, 2023

The Imperial Japanese Army Sasebo Fortress in the Tawara-ga-Ura Area

 

After Sasebo port was designated as a naval port, the Imperial Japanese Army founded Sasebo Fortress to defend the port and its related facilities. Seven large coastal artillery batteries belonging to Sasebo Fortress were built around the entrance of Sasebo Bay by 1901 and the fortress headquarters and the Imperial Army’s Sasebo Fortification Artillery Regiment were established in the city. During the Russo-Japanese War and World War I, Sasebo Fortress stayed alert at all times, but never experienced any actual fights. A training facility for Type88 (1928) coast-type analogue-computer-type sighting devices and underground magazines were also built. But, as a result of the Japanese forces’ adoption of a new strategic policy that valued offense above defense, Sasebo Fortress was closed and merged into Nagasaki Fortress in 1936.