YOKOSUKA, Kanagawa Pref. -- A disarmament think tank on Friday suggested that Yokosuka is a pivotal U.S. base for Tomahawk cruise missiles, backing its claim with documents showing that a U.S. destroyer received and transferred hundreds of the high-tech missiles here between 1991 and 1997.

Peace Depot, a nongovernmental organization based in Yokohama, based its assertions on information it obtained from the U.S. government showing the ammunition transactions by the destroyer Fife, which fired the largest number of Tomahawk missiles during the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

Yokosuka was Fife's home port between 1988 and 1998.