Its territory included the Inland Sea of Japan and the Pacific coasts of southern Honshū from Wakayama to Yamaguchi prefectures, eastern and northern Kyūshū and Shikoku.
Tokuyama port, was also part of Kure Naval District, and had the largest fuel depot in the Japanese Navy.
During the administrative re-organization of the Japanese Navy in 1889, Kure was designated as the "Second Naval District" (第二海軍区, dai-ni kaigunku), and its harbor was dredged, a breakwater constructed and docking facilities for warships were established.
The following year, work began on the Kure Naval Arsenal, which would eventually expand to become one of the largest shipyards in Japan for the construction of large capital ships.
At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, Kure Naval District encompassed the following[1] Kure was heavily bombed by United States Navy and United States Army Air Forces bombers in the final stages of the Pacific War, and many of its facilities were destroyed.