【Military and Civil Aviation Powerhouse in the Pacific - Wake Island】
Wake Island, formerly known as Halcyon Island or Helsion Island. The atoll in the central Pacific Ocean, unorganized territory of the United States. 3.700 km (2.300 mi) west of Honolulu. It includes three coral islets with a total land area of 6.5 square kilometres (2.5 sq mi). The three islands are connected by a causeway, which unfolds in the shape of a crescent moon, with a lagoon in the middle.
The terrain is low and flat, 6 meters above sea level, and the rainfall is small. It was returned to the United States in 1898. In 1934, it was under the jurisdiction of the Navy and established naval aviation and submarine bases. It was occupied by the Japanese in December 1941 and recovered by the United States in 1945. After 1974 it was an emergency landing station for commercial aircraft. Submarine cable with Honolulu and Guam. Population 302 (1980). Wake Island is an atoll in the western Pacific Ocean with a coastline of 19.3 kilometers, about two-thirds of the voyage from Hawaii to the Northern Mariana Islands. The island covers an area of about 8 square kilometers, consisting of three small reef islands of Wick, Wilkes and Peele, located in the group of volcanic islands submerged by the sea in the Pacific Ocean, 3200 kilometers east of Hawaii and 2060 kilometers west of Guam, and is strategically important, known as the "stepping stone of the Pacific Ocean". Wake Island's temporary resident population includes hundreds of U.S. military personnel, civilians, and some foreign and military contractors, and food and industrial goods are imported entirely.
From the mid-1970s to the present, Wake Island has been an emergency landing backup airfield for military and civilian aircraft and a refueling station for U.S. aircraft from Honolulu to Tokyo and Guam.
