Navy Town is a formerly populated place in the Aleutians West Census Area, Alaska, United States. It is located on the southeast coast of Attu Island, on the western shore of Massacre Bay, and was named during the military occupation of the area in World War II. The name was first published by the United States Army Map Service and entered into the Geographic Names Information System on March 31, 1981. [1] Attu Station was decommissioned in 2010, leaving Navy Town and the island with no permanent population.
Aleutians West Census Area is a census area located in the U.S. state of Alaska. As of the 2020 census, the population was 5,232, down from 5,561 in 2010. It is part of the Unorganized Borough and therefore has no borough seat. Its largest city is Unalaska, home to about 80% of the population. It contains most of the Aleutian Islands, from Attu Island in the west to Unalaska Island in the east, as well as the Pribilof Islands, which lie north of the Aleutians in the Bering Sea.
Attu Station is a census-designated place (CDP) located on Attu Island in the Aleutians West Census Area in the U.S. state of Alaska. The population was 21 at the 2010 census, consisting entirely of coast guard personnel who resided and worked at Casco Cove Coast Guard Station, but left the island when the station was closed in August 2010, leaving it uninhabited. LORAN Station Attu had provided a navigational signal for mariners of the North Pacific since the 1970s.
Attu is an island in the Near Islands. It is the westernmost point of the U.S. state of Alaska. The island became uninhabited in 2010, making it the largest uninhabited island in the United States.
Adak Island is an island near the western extent of the Andreanof Islands group of the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. Alaska's southernmost town, Adak, is located on the island. The island has a land area of 274.59 square miles (711.18 km2), measuring 33.9 miles (54.5 km) long and 22 miles (35 km) wide, making it the 25th largest island in the United States.
The Semichi Islands are a cluster of small islands in the Near Islands group of the Aleutian Islands, Alaska. They are located southeast of Attu Island and northeast of Agattu Island, near 52°44′06″N173°59′28″E. Named islands in the group include Alaid Island, Hammerhead Island, Lotus Island, Nizki Island, and Shemya.
Agattu is an island in Alaska, part of the Near Islands in the western end of the Aleutian Islands. With a land area of 85.558 square miles (221.59 km2) Agattu is one of the largest uninhabited islands in the Aleutians. It is the second largest of the Near Islands, after Attu Island. It is volcanic and considerably mountainous. The treeless island has a tundra-like terrain which reaches a peak of 2,073 feet (632 m) above sea level. Its length is 12.2 miles (19.7 km) and width is 19 miles (30 km).
Savage Island is a small island in the Near Islands group of the Aleutian Islands in the U.S. state of Alaska. A satellite island of Attu Island, it is situated at 52°48′05″N173°04′32″E in Temnac Bay on the south side of Attu. It was named by the U.S. Army during its occupation of Attu during World War II.
Kennon Island is a 0.3-mi-long satellite of Attu Island in the Near Islands group at the extreme western end of the Aleutian Islands, Alaska. It is located 0.5 mi off the east side of Attu in Chichagof Bay. It was named by Lt. William Gibson in July 1855 for Lt. Beverley Kennon, U.S. Navy. Lt. Kennon served with Lt. Gibson on the schooner USS Fenimore Cooper during the North Pacific Exploring Expedition of 1854-1855 under the command of captains Caldwalader Ringgold and John Rodgers.
Loaf Island is a small satellite of Attu Island in the Near Islands group at the extreme western end of the Aleutian Islands, Alaska. Loaf Island is situated in Massacre Bay on the southeast side of Attu. It was named by the U.S. Army during its occupation of Attu during World War II.
The Cooper Islands are a group of small islands located 1.6 km (1 mi) off the northeast coast of Attu Island, Alaska, United States. They extend 0.48 km (0.3 mi) into the Bering Sea. The islands were named in July 1855 for the schooner USS Fenimore Cooper by Lt. William Gibson, USN.
The Gibson Islands are a group of small islands that extend for 0.3 mi into the mouth of Chichagof Harbor on the northeast side of Attu Island in the Aleutians West Census Area of the U.S. state of Alaska. The islands were named in July 1855 by the North Pacific Surveying Expedition for Lt. William Gibson, USN, commander of the schooner USS Fenimore Cooper.
Montague Island (Sugpiaq: Suklluurniilnguq) lies in the Gulf of Alaska at the entrance to Prince William Sound, Alaska. The island has a land area of 790.88 km2, making it the 26th largest island in the United States. As of the 2000 census, Montague did not have a permanent resident population, making it at that time the largest uninhabited island in the United States. Since then, the 2010 abandonment of the United States Coast Guard station on Attu Island in the Aleutian Islands, which at 892.8 km2 is larger than Montague Island, causes Attu to claim that title. Montague Island was named by Captain James Cook in honor of John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, one of his greatest supporters.
The Battle of Dutch Harbor took place on June 3–4, 1942, when the Imperial Japanese Navy launched two aircraft carrier raids on the Dutch Harbor Naval Operating Base and U.S. Army Fort Mears at Dutch Harbor on Amaknak Island, during the Aleutian Islands Campaign of World War II. The bombing marked the first aerial attack by an enemy on the continental United States, and was the second time in history that the continental U.S. was bombed by someone working for a foreign power, the first being the accidental bombing of Naco, Arizona in 1929.
The Battle of Attu, which took place on 11–30 May 1943, was a battle fought between forces of the United States, aided by Canadian reconnaissance and fighter-bomber support, and Japan on Attu Island off the coast of the Territory of Alaska as part of the Aleutian Islands Campaign during the American Theater and the Pacific Theater. In contrast with the tropical climate in the Pacific, Attu is the only land battle in which Japanese and American forces fought in snowy conditions.
The Japanese occupation of Kiska took place between 6 June 1942 and 28 July 1943 during the Aleutian Islands Campaign of the American Theater and the Pacific Theater of World War II. The Japanese occupied Kiska and nearby Attu Island in order to protect the northern flank of the Japanese Empire. Along with the Attu landing the next day, it was the first time that the United States was occupied by a foreign power since the War of 1812, and was one of the two invasions of the United States during World War II.
Massacre Bay is an inlet on the southeast coast of the island of Attu in the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. Massacre Bay was among the landing sites of United States Army troops in the Battle of Attu in May 1943, which led to the recapture of the island from the Japanese during World War II.
Holtz Bay is an inlet on the northeast coast of the island of Attu in the Aleutian Islands in Alaska.
Sarana Bay is an inlet on the east coast of the island of Attu in the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. Hodikof Island is a small, 160 m long island in the bay. The seaward extension of Hodikof Island is known as Hodikof Reef.
The military history of the Aleutian Islands began almost immediately following the purchase of Alaska from the Russian Empire by the United States in 1867. Prior to the early 20th century, the Aleutian Islands were essentially ignored by the United States Armed Forces, although the islands played a small role in the Bering Sea Arbitration when a number of British and American vessels were stationed at Unalaska to enforce the arbitrators' decision. By the early 20th century, a number of war strategies examined the possibility of conflict breaking out between the Empire of Japan and the United States. While the Aleutian Islands were seen as a potential staging point for invasions by either side, this possibility was dismissed owing to the islands' dismal climate. In 1922, the Washington Naval Treaty was signed, after which the United States Navy began to take an interest in the islands. However, nothing of significance was to materialize until World War II.
Casco Cove Coast Guard Station was a military facility and private use airfield on Attu Island, one of the Aleutian Islands in the U.S. state of Alaska. Owned by the United States Coast Guard, Casco Cove CGS is located 1,481 miles (2,383 km) west of Anchorage, Alaska. Also known as LORAN Station Attu, the facility was closed on August 27, 2010, but the airfield remains available for emergency use.
Coordinates: 52°50′27″N173°10′32″E / 52.84083°N 173.17556°E