Aside from its location in the Mojave desert, MCLB Barstow is a major storage and industrial facility. What makes MCLB Barstow really unique is that it is home to the only surviving Japanese Type 4 Ka-Tsu, a tracked vehicle developed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for the Imperial Japanese Navy in World War 2 to give it a ship-to-shore capability similar to the U.S. landing tracked vehicles (LVTs). Robert Jackson, Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow, reports.
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| The last survivor of only 49 Japanese Type 4 Ka-Tsus ever built (1944) is on display at U.S. Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow, Calif. The Type 4s were never put into operation and were abandoned at Kure, Japan (Picture source: USMC/Robert Jackson) |
