Zuoying Naval Base

History

In the early days Japan chose Magong as the site for the construction of a major naval headquarters, and forced the residents to relocate to other places. In 1943, the command center of the Garrison Office was moved to Kaohsiung's Zuoying. The Magong facilties were heavily damaged in the Penghu air raids.^[2]

On 1 July 2016, a Hsiung Feng III missile was accidentally launched from a Republic of China Navy vessel from waters off Kaohsiung towards Penghu. The missile hit a fishing boat at 8:40 a.m., killing one person and injuring three. This accident is known as the Hsiung Feng III missile mishap.^[3]^[4]

In 2017 the government embarked on a major expansion of the naval base. Under the name Weihai Project (威海) the expansion was given a budget of more than a billion US dollars.^[5]

In 2024 a Ching Chiang-class patrol ship got stranded on a sandbar off Zuoying Naval Base but was able to dislodge itself a few hours later.^[6]

In 2025 the Taiwanese government signed a deal with the US government to conduct training at Zuoying Naval Base.^[7]

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Republic of China Naval Academy

The Republic of China Naval Academy (CNA; Chinese: 中華民國海軍軍官學校; pinyin: Zhōnghuámínguó Hǎijūn Jūnguān Xuéxiào; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tiong-hôa Bîn-kok Hái-kun Kun-koaⁿ Ha̍k-hāu) is the service academy for the navy of the Republic of China (Taiwan), and is located next to the Zuoying Naval Base (海軍左營基地),^[8] Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

Military dependents' villages

Military dependents' villages near the naval base are composed of single-story houses, uncommon in most Taiwanese cities. The villages were first populated by soldiers of the Kuomintang who came from different provinces of mainland China and gathered here after losing the Chinese Civil War in 1949. The ROC National Government provided these veteran serviceman with these single-story houses. These residential areas belonged to the navy and were under military control at that time. Therefore, people outside could not enter villages without martial permission. Without interference from outside, the culture of villages embodies that of different provinces of mainland China.^{[citation needed]}

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