Kwajalein

Kwajalein
NASA image by Kwajalein
Waters	Pacific Ocean
archipelago	Marshall Islands
Geographical location	9 ° 12 '  N , 167 ° 28'  E Coordinates: 9 ° 12 '  N , 167 ° 28'  E
Number of islands	97
Main island	Kwajalein
Land area	16.39 km²
Lagoon area	2 174  km²
Residents	11,408 (2011)
map
German map from 1893

Kwajalein (German outdated: Mentschikowinseln ) is an atoll that belongs to the Marshall Islands in the southern Pacific . It is located around 3900 km southwest of Hawaii (air line Honolulu - island Kwajalein 3942 km) and is the world's largest coral atoll with the largest enclosed lagoon . The 16.39 km² large land area encloses a lagoon of 2174 km². The atoll comprises a total of 97 islands, of which Kwajalein Island is the southernmost and largest. Next to Kwajalein is the island of Ebeye , which is the most densely populated.

history

Like the entire area of ​​the Marshall Islands, Kwajalein belonged to the German Empire as a colony . At the beginning of World War I , the islands fell to Japan . During the Second World War , Kwajalein was an important base for the Imperial Japanese Navy . American soldiers like Louis Zamperini were also here in Japanese captivity.

Kwajalein invasion 1944

On January 31, 1944, US troops managed to land on the atoll during Operation Flintlock (part of the Battle of the Marshall Islands ) and to turn it into an important deployment and supply base for the continuation of the Pacific War .

Between 1946 and 1958, the American atomic and hydrogen bomb tests took place on Bikini and Eniwetok . Kwajalein therefore received an important radar station. In 1948 the evacuated bikinians were housed in tents next to the airport for six months until they were shipped on to the island of Kili .

In 1954, incorrect weather assessments by military meteorologists during the Castle Bravo test on Bikini led to the contamination of the islands of Rongelap and Rongdrik by fallout . The islands were inhabited at that time. Many of the indigenous people were relocated to Ebeye in the Kwajalein Atoll.

Missile tests

Since 1961, numerous tests of missile defense against ballistic missiles have been carried out on Kwajalein. There are launch facilities on Illeginni Island ( 9 ° 0 ′ 0 ″  N , 167 ° 42 ′ 0 ″  E ), Meck Island ( 9 ° 0 ′ 21 ″  N , 167 ° 43 ′ 37 ″  E ), Roi-Namur Island ( 9 ° 24 ′ 4 ″  N , 167 ° 27 ′ 59 ″  E ) and the target area "Kwajalein Drop Zone", Pacific Ocean ( 7 ° 39 ′ 0 ″  N , 167 ° 42 ′ 0 ″  E ). The launch facility on Omelek , which has not been part of the program since 1996 , has meanwhile been used by the space company SpaceX to launch the Falcon 1 launch vehicle .

Today eleven of the 97 islands are leased to the United States, which maintains the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site , or RTS for short . The RTS consists of radar systems as well as systems for optical, telemetry and communication transmission . The RTS is used to monitor and intercept ballistic missiles and to support space missions.

After a long stalemate between the government and the landowners and eight years of negotiations, the Kwajalein Land Use Agreement (LUA) was signed on May 10, 2011 . The treaty guarantees the US an extension of its land use rights on Kwajalein until 2066, with an option for a further extension of 20 years. The ceremony in Ebeye was broadcast live on Marshall Islands' Radio V7AB . With the signing of the contract, the payout of 32 million US dollars from a trustee account to the landowners became free. The signatories of the Kwajalein Land Use Agreement were President Jurelang Zedkaia, Iroijlaplap Imata Kabua, Iroijlaplap Anjua Loeak, Iroijlaplap Nelu Watak, Leroij Likwor Litokwa, Minister of Finance Alfred Alfred Jr., and Attorney General Frederick Canavor Jr.

Attractions

Prinz Eugen in July 2018

In the southeast of the atoll, north of the island of Enubuj , lies the wreck of the German cruiser Prinz Eugen , which capsized and sunk on December 22, 1946, and which served as a target ship during Operation Crossroads . The stern of the ship protrudes clearly visible from the water.

For the atoll, the wreck represented an unsolved environmental problem for a long time. Inside the ship, around 1,000 m³ of oil were still in the bunkers. In 2018, almost all of the fuel was pumped out by a US Navy salvage unit. 159 of 173 tanks could be emptied in this way. The remaining 14 tanks (about 3% of the total stock) were inaccessible for the divers, but are classified as tight and therefore harmless in the long term.

See also

• Bigej Island

Individual evidence

1. ↑ German Colonial Lexicon. Edited by Heinrich Schnee. - Leipzig: Quelle & Meyer 1920. - 3 vols.
2. ↑ Laura Hillenbrand: Unbroken. To survive. Courage. Forgiveness. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2010, pages 203-217
3. ^ Press release of the Presidential Office of the Republic of the Marshall Islands from May 10, 2011, cited in an archived copy ( memento of October 25, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on May 14, 2011
4. ↑ Bauernfeind, Ingo: Radioactive to all eternity - The fate of the Prinz Eugen . ES Mittler & Sohn, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 2011, ISBN 978-3-8132-0928-0 , p. 93 .
5. ↑ Wreck as an environmental problem , report on spiegel.de from March 22, 2017, accessed on March 22, 2017
6. ^ Lt Clyde Shavers, CTF 73 Public Affairs: US Navy divers recover oil from wrecked WWII ship Prinz Eugen. Retrieved August 21, 2019 (American English). 

Web links

Commons : Kwajalein  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Kwajalein in the Encyclopedia Astronautica (English)