Naval Base Marshall Islands

Naval Base Marshall Islands were United States Navy advance bases built on the Marshall Islands during World War II to support the Pacific War efforts. The bases were built by US Navy after the Marshall Islands campaign that captured the islands from the Empire of Japan. By February 1944 the United States Armed Forces had captured the islands. Most of the airfields and other facilities Japan had built were destroyed in allied bombing raids and naval bombardment. US Navy Seabee Construction Battalions arrived as soon as the area was secured and remove the debris. The Seabees quickly repaired, built and improved the airfield/runways and seaport. Seabees often worked around the clock to get airfields operational so that fighter aircraft and bombers could start operating. The bases were used for staging upcoming campaigns and for repair.[1][2]

Naval Base Marshall Islands
Naval Base Marshall Islands is located in Marshall Islands
Naval Base Marshall Islands
Naval Base Marshall Islands
Location of Majuro in Marshall Islands
Naval Base Marshall Islands is located in Pacific Ocean
Naval Base Marshall Islands
Naval Base Marshall Islands
Naval Base Marshall Islands (Pacific Ocean)
Naval Base Marshall Islands is located in Earth
Naval Base Marshall Islands
Naval Base Marshall Islands
Naval Base Marshall Islands (Earth)
Coordinates: 7°05′N 171°23′E / 7.083°N 171.383°E / 7.083; 171.383
Island ChainRatak Chain
Founded1944
Time zoneUTC+12 (MHT)
Map of Marshall Islands in Micronesia (shown in dark magenta)
Curtiss SOC Seagull flies over Wotje Atoll in the Marshall Islands on 1 February 1942

History

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At the start of World War I, Japan took control of the Marshall Islands from the German Empire. Japan built bases on many of the islands and had troops stationed on the Marshall Islands.[3][4] The tropical Marshall Islands are near the Equator in the Pacific Ocean, slightly west of the International Date Line. Marshall Islands has over five major islands and 29 coral atolls[5] comprising 1,156 individual islands and islets. The Marshall Islands capital and largest city is Majuro on a large coral atoll, Majuro atoll. The US Naval built bases for troops, ships, submarines, PT boats, seaplanes, supply depots, training camps, fleet recreation facilities, and ship repair depots. To keep supplies following the bases were supplied by the vast II United States Merchant Navy. The Marshall Islands were in Japan's inner line of defense and 2,887 miles from Japan's homeland. At the end of the war, the Marshall Islands came under the control of the United States as part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands until the independence of the Marshall Islands in 1986.[1][6]

US Navy Marshall Islands Bases

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Major US Navy Bases:

Minor US Navy bases: [8]

Post war

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Map of Kwajalein Missile Range, now called Reagan Test Site

At the end of the war, the Marshall Islands came under the control of the United States as part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands until the independence of the Marshall Islands in 1986. Marshall Islands were given self-government on 1 May 1979. Compact of Free Association was make between the Marshall Islands and United States on 21 October 1986. These close associations United States dollar and English are used in the Marshall Islands.[11] The Compact of Free Association agrees that US is responsible the defense of the Marshall Islands. The compact gives the Marshall Islands (Marshallese) the right to emigrate, without a visa, to the United States .[12][13]
The vast Kwajalein Missile Range was built Marshall Islands during the Cold War.[14]

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Marshall Islands – Building the Navy's Bases – Majuro Naval Base". marshall.csu.edu.au.
  2. ^ Majuro Atollpacificwrecks.com
  3. ^ "Marshall Islands – Building the Navy's Bases – Kwajalein Naval Base". marshall.csu.edu.au.
  4. ^ "Building the Navy's Bases Online: Kwajalein Atoll, in the Marshall Islands". www.microworks.net.
  5. ^ "Marshall Islands Geography". CIA World Factbook. Archived from the original on 4 February 2021. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
  6. ^ Majuro lagoonpacificwrecks.com
  7. ^ Jaluit /pacificwrecks.com
  8. ^ Base Fleet PO BoxUS Navy
  9. ^ Wotje Atollpacificwrecks.com
  10. ^ Rongelap Atoll US Navy
  11. ^ "About the Compact of Free Association". uscompact.org. United States Department of the Interior; Honolulu Field Office. Archived from the original on 1 May 2017.
  12. ^ Davenport, Coral; Haner, Josh (1 December 2015). "The Marshall Islands Are Disappearing". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 23 August 2017. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  13. ^ "Bryan Maie V. Merrick Garland, No. 19-73099" (PDF). U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. 2 August 2021. p. 6. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 August 2021. Retrieved 9 August 2021. Bryan Maie is a native and citizen of the Marshall Islands who came to the United States as a child with his family in 1989. Maie and his family arrived in Hawaii pursuant to the Compact of Free Association, which allows citizens of the Marshall Islands to come to the United States to live, work, and go to school without a visa.
  14. ^ "Reagan Test Site". U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command. Archived from the original on 10 May 2014. Retrieved 5 December 2015.