Lahaina Roads, also called the Lahaina Roadstead, is an

anchorage Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring Ma ...

in the ʻAuʻau Channel lying off the town of Lahaina on the island of

Maui The island of Maui (; Hawaiian: ) is the second-largest of the islands of the state of Hawaii at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2) and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is the largest of Maui County's four islands, which ...

in the

Hawaiian archipelago The Hawaiian Islands ( haw, Nā Mokupuni o Hawai‘i) are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost K ...

and U.S. state of Hawaii. It lies in the lee of the

West Maui Mountains The West Maui Mountains, West Maui Volcano, or Mauna Kahālāwai which means "holding house of water," is approximately 1.7 million years old and forms a much eroded shield volcano that constitutes the western quarter of Maui. Since its last erup ...

, with the surrounding islands of Lānai (and to a lesser extent, Molokai and

Kahoolawe Kahoolawe (Hawaiian: ), anglicized as Kahoolawe (), is the smallest of the eight main volcanic islands in the Hawaiian Islands. Kahoolawe is located about southwest of Maui and also southeast of Lānaʻi, and it is long by wide, with a total ...

) adding to its general shelter from dangerous winds and large waves. It is most vulnerable to both from the south in the long open fetch between southern Maui and Kahoolawe, as during a "Kona storm" from that direction. While protected from the

trade winds The trade winds or easterlies are the permanent east-to-west prevailing winds that flow in the Earth's equatorial region. The trade winds blow mainly from the northeast in the Northern Hemisphere and from the southeast in the Southern Hemisph ...

(that hit the opposite side of West Maui) it is also subject to frequent heavy gusts and short sharp chop due to thermally induced gusts driven offshore from the West Mauis, and occasional wraparound from heavy winds in the Pailolo Channel between Maui and Molokai. The Roads lie in the Pacific Ocean in the area . Through the 1940s, it was an alternative anchorage to Pearl Harbor for the

U.S. Pacific Fleet The United States Pacific Fleet (USPACFLT) is a theater-level component command of the United States Navy, located in the Pacific Ocean. It provides naval forces to the Indo-Pacific Command. Fleet headquarters is at Joint Base Pearl Harbor� ...

. The possibility that elements of the Pacific Fleet would have been dispersed there was taken seriously in the plan of the

Kido Butai The , also known as the ''Kidō Butai'' ("Mobile Force"), was a name used for a combined carrier battle group comprising most of the aircraft carriers and carrier air groups of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the first eight months of the P ...

(the Japanese naval strike force) for the

attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, ju ...

in 1941. Scout planes were dispatched from the fleet, and I class submarines were sent to Lahaina Roads to reconnoiter the anchorage, which proved empty, with the entire U.S. fleet congregated at

Ford Island Ford Island ( haw, Poka Ailana) is an islet in the center of Pearl Harbor, Oahu, in the U.S. state of Hawaii. It has been known as Rabbit Island, Marín's Island, and Little Goats Island, and its native Hawaiian name is ''Mokuumeume''. The i ...

Oahu Oahu () ( Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over two-thirds of the population of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The island of O� ...

References

Channels of Hawaii Whaling in the Hawaiian Kingdom Lahaina, Hawaii Roadsteads {{Hawaii-geo-stub