TOKYO (KSEE) — The Tokyo Olympic Games are in full swing, and while most of the attention might be on the fields and courts, the largest US overseas naval base in the world is only 43 miles away.
Commander Fleet Activities Yokosuka, or CFAY, has a long history in Japan.
“Yokuska became a military naval base in 1886,” says Randall Baucom, public affairs officer for CFAY. “At that point, this was a center of the Japanese industrial revolution.”
Approximately 26,000 people live and work at CFAY, including Quintin Henderson a Boatswain’s mate second class for the US Navy.
“Being in Japan is one of the most exciting things that I have had to do so far,” says Henderson. “We are the eyes and ears for the pilots for bringing ships in and out of the harbor and up to the piers.”
“The forward-deployed fleet consists currently of six destroyers, three cruisers, an aircraft carrier, and a command ship, the USS Blue Ridge, which is the command ship for the seventh fleet,” explains Baucom.
At one point the base headquarters for the Pacific imperial navy fleet, Commander Fleet Activities Yokosuka is now a symbol of the partnership between the US and Japan.