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.
In June 1942, the Imperial Japanese Navy invaded and captured Attu Island and Kiska. This marked the first time in 130 years that United States soil was under occupation by a hostile country and was the only two invasions of the United States during World War II. The Americans wanted to recapture the two islands, and in January the following year began their advance by capturing Amchitka without opposition. On March 26, the Battle of the Komandorski Islands ensued after the United States Navy imposed a naval blockade on the two islands to reduce the opportunities for the Japanese to keep their Attu and Kiska bases supplied. In May, Attu Island was recaptured, with a total of almost 3,000 deaths from both sides combined. The Americans then prepared to attack Kiska in August, only to find that the entire island had been evacuated by the Japanese in late July. During the recapture of Kiska by the United States, 92 men died as a result of friendly fire and a mine, despite no Japanese soldiers being present on the island.
During the 1960s and early 1970s, the United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) executed a number of nuclear tests on the island of Amchitka in the face of vehement opposition from environmental and local indigenous groups. The first test, conducted in 1965, caused significant damage to the surrounding area, although the details of this damage were not released to the public until 1969. In 1969, the AEC executed a 'calibration shot' to determine whether Amchitka would be suitable for future tests. In 1970, the AEC announced plans to detonate a bomb named 'Cannikin', set to release a blast 385 times that released by the dropping of an atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1945. After a United States Supreme Court challenge to the testing failed by one vote, the testing proceeded as scheduled in November 1971.
Early history In 1853, prior to the purchase of Alaska by the United States, the United States Navy sent the USS Fenimore Cooper to the Aleutian Islands with the aim of locating potential harbors and find coal deposits. No coal deposits were found. In 1867, the United States purchased Alaska from the Russian Empire. By 1869, a number of military posts had been established by the Government of the United States, although the Aleutian Islands did not receive such a post, with the nearest post being located on Kodiak Island. The United States Army made the decision to leave the exploration of the Aleutians to the United States Navy, and the latter showed little interest in doing so. The Aleutian Islands played a small role in the ongoing sealing dispute between the United Kingdom and the United States, which later culminated in the Bering Sea Arbitration. In 1888, following what the United States Government saw as an infringement on the nation's sovereignty by Canadian and Japanese sealers, the United States Navy sent a number of its ships to Unalaska to police the foreign sealers. By 1891, an accord had been reached between the United Kingdom and the United States, and for some time a number of British and American vessels remained in Unalaska to enforce the deal.
By October 1906, many in the U.S. government, including Secretary of State Elihu Root, were worried that war could break out in the Pacific between the United States and Japan. However, the Aleutian Islands were believed to be of little strategic importance to the United States, and were ignored by a number of pre-war strategies formulated by the U.S. armed forces, including the Naval War Board's 1896 plan, which would have brought only a few scout ships to the Islands. In 1911, the Naval War Board considered three options through which Japan could mount an invasion of the United States, one of which involved an attack on the Aleutian Islands. However, this option was discarded by the Board owing to the cold climate of the islands.
The Aleutian Islands played little part in the proceedings of World War I, as the events of this war were concentrated in Europe. In 1922, the Washington Naval Treaty was signed by the United States, the British Empire, the Empire of Japan, the French Third Republic, and the Kingdom of Italy. Article XIX of the Treaty required Japan, Britain and the United States to maintain the status quo in terms of military fortifications in their respective Pacific Rim territories. While Japan and Britain gained a number of exemptions from the terms of Article XIX (for example, Australia and New Zealand were not prevented from building up their fortifications as a result of the Treaty), Japan made it a requirement of their agreement to the Treaty that the Aleutian Islands were not to be exempted.
The interwar period Although the United States Navy was prevented from developing fortifications on the Aleutian Islands due to the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty, the Navy believed that at some point the United States' treaty obligations would no longer apply, and began to scout the Aleutians for possible naval bases. In 1923, two scouting ships investigated the possibility of establishing anchorages off the Islands, and attempted to claim the United States Army's bases on the Aleutians for the purposes of national security.
After the mid-1920s, little attention was paid to the Aleutian Islands as a potential strategic area. United States President Herbert Hoover did not concentrate his government's resources on developing the nation's military due to the economic challenge posed by the Great Depression. In 1930, one of Hoover's aides claimed that North America's coastal islands would play little part in a potential war between the United States and Japan unless the Navy was rendered ineffective and Canada turned against its southern neighbor. In June 1933, a Japanese ship visited Attu Island three times. Although the ship was purportedly only carrying farming and forestry specialists, John Troy, then the Governor of Alaska, believed that the Aleutian Islands was a possible target for enemy navies and lobbied the federal government for military support. While Major General Benjamin Foulois was willing to commit to deploying more military resources in the resource-rich strip of land stretching from Fairbanks to Anchorage, he was not willing to devote more of his military's resources to the Aleutians, as, according to him, there was "nothing in southeastern Alaska or along the Aleutian Islands which is worth making an effort to defend."
In May 1934, following reports of a Japanese spy operating out of Dutch Harbor, the United States Navy dispatched Edwin T. Layton to the Aleutians to investigate the allegations. The result of this investigation was the arrest of the only Japanese man in the region, as well as the town's only prostitute, a woman accused of conspiring with the Japanese man. During the 1930s, a number of United States governmental committees, boards and reports concluded that air bases in the Aleutians would be for the most part impractical due to the region's inclement weather.
World War II Preparing for battle
On December 7, 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy executed a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, bringing the United States into a war against Japan, Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. The Pacific Theater was divided into three sectors – north, central and south, with the Aleutians falling inside the north sector, though it was also part of the American theater. With the Aleutians located just east of the Kuril Islands, the former served as an ideal physical bridge between the two nations of Japan and the United States. Although dismal climate conditions on the Aleutians made an approach by Japan unlikely, neither of the two countries could afford to not cover their bases with respect to these islands. On April 18, 1942, sixteen United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) aircraft bombed Tokyo in what has become known as the Doolittle Raid. The Imperial High Command were unsure of where the aircraft originated and speculated that a hidden air base existed on the western tip of the Aleutian Islands, sparking interest by the High Command in capturing the island chain.
An early strategic plan by Isoroku Yamamoto involved the occupation of the western Aleutians and Midway Island as a 'decoy' to lure the United States Pacific Fleet away from Pearl Harbor so as to effect the complete destruction of the Hawaiian base before reconstruction efforts could take hold. However, the Aleutians campaign meant that fewer ships could be devoted to the Battle of Midway, a turning point during World War Two. The United States armed forces had broken the Japanese communications code, and were able to learn of the Japanese plan to attack the Aleutians by May 21, 1942. The Imperial Japanese Navy's plan was to attack and hold Attu and Kiska for future use, while inflicting damage on Dutch Harbor and Adak. Once the United States Navy learned of the plan, Admiral Chester W. Nimitz sent a third of his Pacific Fleet to the Aleutian Islands, under orders to hold Dutch Harbor at all costs.
The initial attacks By June 1, 1942, the American military contingent on the Aleutians numbered 2,300. On 2 June, a patrol plane spotted a Japanese armada southwest of Dutch Harbor. On June 3, Imperial Japanese Navy Admiral Boshirō Hosogaya ordered some of his aircraft to attack Dutch Harbor, despite rough conditions in the air and on the ground. Only half managed to attack the town, with 17 aircraft arriving in the airspace above Dutch Harbor around 6:00am. Finding themselves confronted by U.S. forces, the aircraft hastily dropped their bombs and quickly returned to their carriers. On June 4, the aircraft returned, and attacked the town's oil storage tanks, a barracks ship and part of the military base's hospital. On that day, 43 Americans died and 64 were wounded. Ten Japanese aircraft were lost, as were 11 American planes. It was the first aerial bombardment of the continental United States by a foreign enemy in history.