Coast Guard Base Kodiak is a major shore installation of the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and Admiralty law, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the armed forces of the United States. It is one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...

, located in

Kodiak, Alaska Kodiak (Alutiiq language, Alutiiq: ) is the main city and one of seven communities on Kodiak Island in Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska, Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska. All commercial transportation between the island's communities and the outside ...

. The largest tenant unit on the base is Air Station Kodiak. It is also the home port for several

cutters Cutter may refer to: Tools * Bolt cutter * Box cutter * Cigar cutter * Cookie cutter * Cutter (hydraulic rescue tool) * Glass cutter * Meat cutter * Milling cutter * Paper cutter * Pizza cutter * Side cutter People * Cutter (surname) * ...

. Historic elements that it includes are the Kodiak Naval Operating Base, Fort Greely, and

Fort Abercrombie Fort Abercrombie, in North Dakota, was a United States Army fort established by authority of an Act of Congress, March 3, 1857. The act allocated twenty-five square miles of land on the Red River of the North in Dakota Territory to be used for ...

. The station is the subject of the series ''Coast Guard Alaska'' on

The Weather Channel The Weather Channel (TWC) is an American pay television television channel, channel owned by Weather Group, LLC, a subsidiary of Allen Media Group. The channel's headquarters are located in Atlanta, Georgia. Launched on May 2, 1982, the channel ...

and is prominently featured in the 2006 film ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' and is frequently referenced in the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel, known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery, is an American cable channel that is best known for its ongoing reality television shows and promotion of pseudoscience. It init ...

series ''

Deadliest Catch ''Deadliest Catch'' is an American reality television series that premiered on the Discovery Channel on April 12, 2005. The show follows crab fishermen aboard fishing vessels in the Bering Sea during the Alaskan king crab and snow crab fishing ...

''.

History

The base began as the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

's Naval Air Station Kodiak on 15 June 1941. Artillery emplacements survive on Buskin Hill, Artillery Hill, and at

(now a state park), but little remains of Fort Greely's barracks. On 17 April 1947 the Coast Guard Air Station was commissioned as an Air Detachment at the navy base with one

PBY Catalina The Consolidated Model 28, more commonly known as the PBY Catalina (U.S. Navy designation), is a flying boat and amphibious aircraft designed by Consolidated Aircraft in the 1930s and 1940s. In U.S. Army service, it was designated as the O ...

aircraft, seven pilots, and thirty crewmen. On 25 April 1972 the order establishing Coast Guard Base Kodiak and CG RADSTA Kodiak was issued by the Commandant of the CG. CG Air Station Kodiak was already operating with three

HC-130 The Lockheed HC-130 is an extended-range, search and rescue (SAR)/combat search and rescue (CSAR) version of the C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft, with two different versions operated by two separate services in the U.S. armed force ...

H airplanes and two

HH-52 The Sikorsky HH-52 Seaguard (company designation S-62) is an early amphibious helicopter designed and produced by American helicopter manufacturer Sikorsky Aircraft. It was the first of the company's amphibious rotorcraft to fly and the United ...

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

s. Today, CG Air Station Kodiak operates five

J aircraft, five

MH-60T The Sikorsky MH-60T Jayhawk is a multi-mission, twin-engine, medium-range helicopter built by Sikorsky Aircraft and operated by the United States Coast Guard for various missions including search and rescue, law enforcement, military readines ...

Jayhawk helicopters, and five MH-65C Dolphin helicopters. Kodiak Naval Operating Base, Fort Greely, and Fort Abercrombie were together listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

and also declared to be a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

in 1985 for the role the facilities played in World War II. and

2012 shooting

On April 12, 2012, two Coast Guard members were found fatally shot at their work stations in one of the communications buildings on-base. The event caused panic on the island as residents were urged to stay indoors and report suspect activities, and schools were put on

lockdown A lockdown () is a restriction policy for people, community or a country to stay where they are, usually due to specific risks that could possibly harm the people if they move and interact freely. The term is used for a prison protocol that us ...

. After an investigation conducted by the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

Coast Guard Investigative Service The Coast Guard Investigative Service (CGIS) is a division of the United States Coast Guard that investigates crimes where the U.S. Coast Guard has an interest. It is composed of civilian ( GS-1811), active duty, reserve enlisted, and warrant o ...

, and

Alaska State Troopers The Alaska State Troopers, officially the Division of Alaska State Troopers (AST), is the state police agency of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is a division of the Alaska Department of Public Safety (DPS). The AST is a full-service law enforcem ...

, the prime suspect (James Michael "Jim" Wells) was arrested.

Homeported cutters

* USCGC ''Alex Haley'' (WMEC-39) * USCGC ''Cypress'' (WLB-210) *

USCGC John Witherspoon (WPC-1158) United States Coast Guard Cutter is the term used by the U.S. Coast Guard for its commissioned vessels. They are or greater in length and have a permanently assigned crew with accommodations aboard. They carry the ship prefix USCGC. Histo ...

* USCGC ''Earl Cunningham'' (WPC-1159) *

USCGC Frederick Mann (WPC-1160) United States Coast Guard Cutter is the term used by the U.S. Coast Guard for its commissioned vessels. They are or greater in length and have a permanently assigned crew with accommodations aboard. They carry the ship prefix USCGC. Histo ...

Until accommodations are made for a permanent homeport in Seward, AK

Notes

References

External links