About Kodiak MWR
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USCG Base Kodiak: USCG Base Kodiak is located on Kodiak Island (also known as the “Emerald Island”), approximately 250 miles southwest of Anchorage, Alaska. Kodiak Island is only accessible by aircraft or boat. At 3,588 square miles, Kodiak Island is the largest in the groups of islands which form the Kodiak Island Archipelago. Kodiak Island residents, roughly 15,000, live mostly around Kodiak City while others live in one of six villages surrounding the edges of the island.
Driving Instructions:
- From the airport (ADQ): Turn left at the stop sign on Rezanof Drive. The main gate entrance is 1.5 miles (on the left).
- From town (Ferry Pier): Take Rezanof Drive west approximately 5.5 miles, passing the airport on the left. The Base entrance is 1.5 miles past the airport. The Coast Guard Base is approximately seven miles from town.
Size and Mission:
The Coast Guard Base Kodiak Command encompasses 23,000 acres of land on Kodiak Island. It is the only Base Command in the Coast Guard that supports both cutters and aircraft. Personnel assigned to Base Kodiak play a key role in Coast Guard operations in Western Alaska. Along with providing services for visiting cutters from the Pacific Area, and one of the largest USCG Air Stations, the team provides administrative, logistical, and family support to other operational units on Kodiak. These units combine to make the Kodiak complex the largest operational base in the Coast Guard. Base Kodiak is a part of the USCG’s Seventeenth District which includes facilities and assets throughout Alaska.
History:
The United States Navy started construction of a naval air station at Kodiak in September 1939, and the station was commissioned on 15 June 1941. Built between 1939 and 1944, the Kodiak facilities served as the main forward operating base for the defense of Alaska, and for operations in the Aleutians’ campaign in WWII. Fort Greely, a United States Army facility located in the Buskin River area, housed the forces that operated the island's defenses. The WWII facilities included an airfield with numerous hangars, a seaplane base for a fleet of Consolidated PBY Catalina’s, and a submarine base. Home to PBY squadrons early in World War II, Kodiak supported the Aleutian Islands Campaign of 1943, operating scouting and air transport squadrons. The Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak was commissioned as an Air Detachment in April 1947, operating a single PBY Catalina. This was the Coast Guard's first aircraft permanently stationed in Alaska. In October 1950, Kodiak was designated Naval Station, and in 1972 the site was turned over to the U.S. Coast Guard.
Kodiak Naval Operating Base is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and also declared to be a National Historic Landmark in 1985 for the role the facilities played in World War II. Some of the current Base structures bear placards indicating their historical significance.
USCG Base Kodiak has under gone many name changes throughout the years including Support Center Kodiak, Integrated Support Command Kodiak and now, Base Kodiak.
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