Operation Nanook was an

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenland), Finland, Iceland, N ...

expedition undertaken by the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

in 1946. It consisted of , , USCGC ''Northwind'' (WAG-282), , , and . The mission is mostly documented as

cartographic Cartography (; from grc, χάρτης , "papyrus, sheet of paper, map"; and , "write") is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an im ...

in nature. From 22 July to 5 August 1946, all activities in Operation Nanook centered on

Thule Thule ( grc-gre, Θούλη, Thoúlē; la, Thūlē) is the most northerly location mentioned in ancient Greek and Roman literature and cartography. Modern interpretations have included Orkney, Shetland, northern Scotland, the island of Saar ...

; ''Norton Sound'' remained at anchor there, in

North Star Bay North Star Bay ( da, North Star Bugt), also known as Thule Harbor and Wolstenholme Bay, is a bay off the mouth of Wolstenholme Fjord, Greenland. The bay is named after HMS ''North Star''. Thule Air Base is located at the edge of the bay. There ...

, servicing her two PBM's. Meanwhile, ''Whitewood'' and ''Atule'' operated from North Star Bay as they conducted exercises and tests in the Smith Sound-

Kane Basin Kane Basin ( da, Kane Bassin; french: Bassin (de) Kane) is an Arctic waterway lying between Greenland and Canada's northernmost island, Ellesmere Island. It links Smith Sound to Kennedy Channel and forms part of Nares Strait. It is approximatel ...

area. On 5 August 1946, ''Norton Sound'' and ''Whitewood'' headed for Dundas Harbour, Nunavut and Devon Island, in order to attempt air and surface operations there. Unfortunately, the ships found the harbor iced over, with a belt of

pack ice Drift ice, also called brash ice, is sea ice that is not attached to the shoreline or any other fixed object (shoals, grounded icebergs, etc.).Leppäranta, M. 2011. The Drift of Sea Ice. Berlin: Springer-Verlag. Unlike fast ice, which is "fasten ...

extending out three miles down the coast. The ''Northwind'' broke ice in support of Operation Nanook.

The mission

The mission was to erect a radio and weather station in

. It was built from wooden barracks on the '' Pittufik'', a Greenlandish word for "the place where we tie the dogs", in a large

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as ...

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams ove ...

about two miles from the trade station

, which the Polar explorer

Knud Rasmussen Knud Johan Victor Rasmussen (; 7 June 1879 – 21 December 1933) was a Greenlandic–Danish polar explorer and anthropologist. He has been called the "father of Eskimology" (now often known as Inuit Studies or Greenlandic and Arctic Studie ...

built. The station was to be operated as joint

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

operation, under the Danish colours and Danish supervision by a crew of twenty men, ten from each nation. Regular weather observations were maintained as Synopsies, Pibal and Radiosonde. The station was kept in operation until 1951 when

Thule Air Base Thule Air Base (pronounced or , kl, Qaanaaq Mitarfik, da, Thule Lufthavn), or Thule Air Base/Pituffik Airport , is the United States Space Force's northernmost base, and the northernmost installation of the U.S. Armed Forces, located north ...

was built in the valley; the weather station was then moved to the

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland i ...

ish settlement at North Star Bay, and renamed "Dundas", until the population was moved to

Qaanaaq Qaanaaq (), formerly known as Thule or New Thule, is the main town in the northern part of the Avannaata municipality in northwestern Greenland. It is one of the northernmost towns in the world. The inhabitants of Qaanaaq speak the local Inukt ...

further north in 1953.

References

2. THULEAB.DK, The Ultimate Guide to Thule Air Base. https://web.archive.org/web/20040110185454/http://www.thuleab.dk/

The mission

References

Further reading