Wake Island - SpeedyLook encyclopedia

Geography

Coordinated: 19°17 Northern 166°36' Is
Superficie: 6.5 km ²
Littoral: 19.3 km
Altitude: 0 m - 6 m
tropical Climate with occasional typhoon)

Although the island of Wake is called an island, it in fact an atoll made up of three islands (Wake, Wilkes and Peale) is laid out around a lagoon. Its denomination as island is a decision of the United States after the Second world war to distinguish Wake from the other Japanese atolls.

History

Discovered

The island is discovered the October 20th 1568 by the Spanish explorer Álvaro de Mendaña de Neyra. It finds " a low island and stérile" that he wanted to give the name of " San Francisco ". The island was finally named in the honor of the captain of goélette Samuel Wake in 1796.

The December 20th 1840, a forwarding of American exploration ordered by the commodore Charles Wilkes unloaded on this island which it found sorry, without fresh water and covered with shrubs. It foot-note which the lagoon was full of fish. The naturalist of forwarding, Titian Peale, collected several new specimens of which an egg of small albatross and watery specimens.

The shipwreck of the Makes out

In the night of the March 4th 1866, the boat of the Libelle Bremen was failed off the island because of a storm. The boat, under the command of the Tobias captain had started from San Francisco to join Hong-Kong. The famous professional singer Anna Bishop (ex-partner of the large harpist Nicolas Bochsa) and her husband Martin Schultz (a diamond cutter of New York) were on board with three another members of the troop of opera. After 21 days, the thirty passengers and the crew embarked in a boat to join the Spanish island of Guam which they will reach the April 8th.

Militarization of the island

The island of Wake was annexed by the United States the January 17th 1899. In 1935, Pan American Airways built a small village called " PAAville" to serve the Etats flights - Linked - China.

In January 1941, the American Navy builds a military base on the atoll. A garrison of 450 officers, coming from the first battalion of marine defense affected is accompanied of more than 1.200 civil workers. One finds there six guns of 127 mm resulting from a small cross, 12 anti-aircraft guns m3 of 76 mm, 18 heavy guns m2 and also 30 other light guns. This garrison is ordered by the commander Devreux.

The Second world war

The shortly after the attack of Pearl Harbor, 16 Japanese bombers attack the island destroying eight of the twelve Grumman F4F Wildcat present on the airport but left intact the defensive installations. In the morning of the December 11th, the garrison helped of four Wildcats push back the first Japanese unloading of the Force of the South Seas made up of:

3 combat cruisers (Yubari, Tenryu, Tatsuta) and
8 destroyers: Yayoi, Mutski, Kisaragi, Hayate, Oite, Asanagi;
2 patrol craft (Patrol Boat No 32 and Patrol Boat No 33);
2 conveyers of troop containing 450 Japanese sailors.

The terrestrial artillery made fire on the invasion running Hayate which was the first cast Japanese boat of the Second world war and damaged many ships. Widcats as for them ran Kisaragi. The first battle of Wake was the only time where an unloading is diverted by a terrestrial defense.

The seat continued and Japanese aviation continued to bombard the island. The Japanese navy detached two aircraft carriers of Pearl Harbor (Soryu and Hiryu). The December 23rd, Japanese launches the second attack with the ships present at the time of the first attack with 1.500 additional men. The two patrol craft accost with 2:35 then, after a whole night and all the morning of engagements, American goes finally. American records a loss of 119 men whereas Japanese loses 900 men, two destroyers and 20 planes. All American is captured. The captain Henry T. Elrod, one of the pilots of the VMF-211 was decorated with the medal of honor on a purely posthumous basis to have cut down two hunters A6M Zero. A special military decoration, the Wake Island Device was creates in the honor of the defenders of the island of Wake.

The February 24th 1942, USS Enterprise attacks the Japanese troops of the island of Wake. The United States bombarded the island until the rendering of the Japanese. The October 5th 1943, the planes of USS Yorktown carried out an extremely effective raid and two days after, being afraid of an imminent invasion, the vice-admiral Shigematsu Sakaibara ordered the execution of 98 captured American carrying out of the forced labor on the atoll. A still visible inscription in a cave is a testimony of one of these Americans who succeeds in escaping but was finally taken again. The September 4th 1945, the Japanese give their rendering.

The period post-war period

The island was a advanced station during the Cold war and was managed by Army Space and Missile Defense Command. Since 1974, the airport is used by the American soldiers and some commercial flights of cargo liner. There are also two ports offshore oil rig for large ships. The atoll is not inhabited however any more.

The island remains a strategic position in the Pacific and remains an airport of help for the planes. Several rockets are sent to test the American anti-missile systems.

In the fictions

The island of Wake was already used for several fictions, we can indeed find it in two video games: Battlefield 1942 and Battlefield 2.

Simple: Wake Island Zh-min-nan: Wake-tó

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