Former Kamegakubi Naval Proving Ground, Military testing facility in Kurahashi Island, Kure, Japan.
The former Kamegakubi Naval Proving Ground is a decommissioned artillery testing facility on Kurahashi Island, south of Kure in Hiroshima Prefecture. The grounds run along the coast and still hold concrete platforms and remnants of testing structures facing the Aki Sea.
The Imperial Japanese Navy set up this testing ground in 1900 to evaluate artillery and ammunition produced at the Kure Naval Arsenal. Over the following decades it was expanded to handle more demanding weapon trials over water.
The site sits largely abandoned today, and the remaining concrete structures give a sense of how large the facility once was. Visitors who walk through notice the contrast between the current stillness and the former military activity.
Kurahashi Island is reached by ferry from Kure, and the site sits close to the coast once you arrive. Sturdy footwear is a good idea since some paths are uneven and the concrete remains are not fenced off.
The proving ground was fitted with instruments designed to track projectile paths over open water, which was an unusual approach for the time. These devices placed this site among the earliest examples of applying systematic measurement to weapons development in Japan.
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