is an

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

in southern

Hiroshima Bay is a bay in the Inland Sea, Japan.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Hiroshima Wan" in . Administratively, the bay is divided between Hiroshima and Yamaguchi Prefectures. The bay's shore is a Ria. Its surface area is about 1,000 km², ...

of the Inland Sea,

Yamaguchi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Yamaguchi Prefecture has a population of 1,377,631 (1 February 2018) and has a geographic area of 6,112 km2 (2,359 sq mi). Yamaguchi Prefecture borders Shimane Prefecture t ...

, Japan. Located southeast of Iwakuni, it is part of the Kutsuna Islands within the Bōyo Islands group. The island covers and as of 2013 had a population of 184 residents. The highest point on the island is Mt. Kinzō. Economic activity on the island consists of fishing and cultivation of vegetables and citrus fruit. Hashirajima is connected to the port at Iwakuni Mondays through Saturdays by a high speed ferry. The island is best known for its association in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

with the surrounding Hashirajima Anchoring Area, located south of the naval base at Kure, Hiroshima. Warships of the

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrend ...

that did not need dock repairs would anchor at Hashirajima, and it was also used as a staging area before fleet departures. It was also the site of the loss of the Japanese battleship , which suffered an internal explosion and sank there on 8 June 1943.

References

Imperial Japanese Navy Islands of Yamaguchi Prefecture Islands of the Seto Inland Sea {{Yamaguchi-geo-stub