The continuing importance of the Yahata Steel Works to Japan's heavy industry led to Yahata being identified as a target for strategic bombing during the Pacific War, commencing with the Bombing of Yawata in June 1944, by which time the works produced 24% of Japan's rolled steel. The works were identified as the target for the second atomic bomb on 9 August 1945; due to cloud cover this was redirected to Nagasaki.