
Ulithi (, , or ; pronounced roughly as YOU-li-thee) is an
atoll
An atoll () is a ring-shaped island, including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon. There may be coral islands or cays on the rim. Atolls are located in warm tropical or subtropical parts of the oceans and seas where corals can develop. Most ...
in the
Caroline Islands
The Caroline Islands (or the Carolines) are a widely scattered archipelago of tiny islands in the western Pacific Ocean, to the north of New Guinea. Politically, they are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) in the cen ...
of the western
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...
, about east of
Yap, within
Yap State.
Name
The name of the island goes back to
Proto-Chuukic ''*úlú-diwo''.
Overview
Ulithi consists of 40
islet
An islet ( ) is generally a small island. Definitions vary, and are not precise, but some suggest that an islet is a very small, often unnamed, island with little or no vegetation to support human habitation. It may be made of rock, sand and/ ...
s totaling , surrounding a
lagoon
A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') an ...
about long and up to wide—at one of the largest in the world. It is administered by the
state of Yap in the
Federated States of Micronesia
The Federated States of Micronesia (, abbreviated FSM), or simply Micronesia, is an island country in Micronesia, a region of Oceania. The federation encompasses the majority of the Caroline Islands (excluding Palau) and consists of four Admin ...
. Ulithi's population was 773 in 2000. There are four inhabited islands on Ulithi Atoll. They are
Falalop (), Asor ''(Yasor)'', Mogmog ''(Mwagmwog)'', and Fedarai ''(Fedraey)''. Falalop is the most accessible with
Ulithi Airport, a small resort hotel, store and one of three public high schools in Yap state. Mogmog is the seat of the high chief of Ulithi Atoll though each island has its own chief. Other important islands are Losiap (), Sorlen ''(Sohl'oay)'', and Potangeras ''(Potoangroas)''.
The atoll is in the westernmost of the Caroline Islands, southwest of
Guam
Guam ( ; ) is an island that is an Territories of the United States, organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. Guam's capital is Hagåtña, Guam, Hagåtña, and the most ...
, east of the Philippines and south of
Tokyo
Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...
. It is a typical volcanic atoll, with a coral reef, white sand beaches and palm trees. Ulithi's forty small islands barely rise above the sea, with the largest being only in area. However the reef runs roughly north and south, by across, enclosing a vast anchorage with an average depth of .
History
The
Portuguese navigator
Diogo da Rocha is credited as the first European to find Ulithi in 1525. The
Spanish navigator
Álvaro de Saavedra arrived on the ship ''Florida'' on 1 January 1528, claiming the islands for
KingPhilipII under the name Islands of the Kings (; ) after his patron and the
Three Wise Men honored in the approaching
Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
feast of
Epiphany. It was later charted by other Spaniards as the Chickpea Islands (). It was also visited by the Spanish expedition of
Ruy López de Villalobos on 26 January 1543.
It remained isolated until visited and explored in detail by Captain Don Bernardo de Egoy in 1712, and later visited by Spanish
Jesuit missionaries
The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 ...
led by Juan Antonio Cantova together with a group of 12 Spanish soldiers in 1731.
In 1885, Jesuit missionaries encouraged Germany to extend "protection" over the Carolina Islands to protect their profitable trade. However, the Spanish made similar claims and later that year
Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII (; born Gioacchino Vincenzo Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2March 181020July 1903) was head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 until his death in July 1903. He had the fourth-longest reign of any pope, behind those of Peter the Ap ...
decreed Spain as the ruling power over the islands, granting Germany and the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
trading rights.
In 1889, a significant earthquake hit Yap (and Ulithi),
leading the residents to believe that their engagement with outsiders had angered their traditional spirits.
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
purchased the islands from Spain in 1899 for $4,500,000, conscripting residents as laborers and soldiers. By the early 1900s, Germany had established a police force, post offices, and hospitals on Yap.
During this time, German
Capuchin friars began to replace the Jesuits. The friars struggled to convert the citizens to Catholicism.
According to a history of the Catholic Church in Micronesia:
Yap had been known as "the child of sorrow" of the Caroline mission right from the start. The people were very slow to accept the new faith and slower still to practice it, the missionaries remarked again and again. There were none of the mass conversions there that had occurred in Pohnpei and other parts of the mission. Converts were made laboriously one by one, with baptisms rarely exceeding 20 or 30 a year throughout the German period. Even those who did receive baptism were all too susceptible to the pagan influences of the social environment, the missionaries thought. The number receiving the sacraments was quite small, even for the modest-sized congregations that the priests had. A pastor would report for a typical year perhaps a single Christian marriage, one or two Christian burials and a few anointing.
Good Friday Typhoon
The "Good Friday Typhoon"
hit the atoll in 1907, which killed 473 throughout the Caroline Islands.
SMS ''Planet'' was dispatched by the Germans to Ulithi for emergency food and relief, and eventually evacuated 114 residents to Yap. German authorities were caught unaware of how to respond to the disaster, and received much criticism for handling of the evacuation.
Japanese administration
The atoll was peacefully occupied in 1914 by
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
at the outset of the
First World War
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. Japan was given a mandate to oversee the territory in 1920 by the
League of Nations
The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...
.
Under the Japanese occupation, businessmen and soldiers eroded the traditional political system in Ulithi, with the authority of local chiefs ignored. This began a steady decline in the customs and individual culture of the people of Ulithi. The presence of the Catholic church was reinforced by the Japanese, who allowed the continued efforts of conversion to go on, further eroding the indigenous culture. By 1941, two-thousand (out of 3,000) residents had been converted to Christianity.
World War II
Early in the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the Japanese had established a
radio and weather station on Ulithi and had occasionally used the lagoon as an anchorage, but had abandoned it by 1944. As the operations of 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 ...
(USN) moved west across the Pacific, the USN required a more forward base for its operations.
Ulithi was ideally positioned to act as a staging area for the USN's western Pacific operations. The anchorage was large and well situated for a
base, but there were no port facilities to repair ships or resupply the fleet. The US Navy built the very large
Naval Base Ulithi that operated in 1944 and 1945.
On 23 September 1944, a
regiment
A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, military service, service, or administrative corps, specialisation.
In Middle Ages, Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of l ...
of the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...
's
81st Division landed unopposed, followed a few days later by a
battalion
A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of up to one thousand soldiers. A battalion is commanded by a lieutenant colonel and subdivided into several Company (military unit), companies, each typically commanded by a Major (rank), ...
of
Seabees
United States Naval Construction Battalions, better known as the Navy Seabees, form the U.S. Naval Construction Forces (NCF). The Seabee nickname is a heterograph of the initial letters "CB" from the words "Construction Battalion". Dependi ...
. The
survey ship
A survey vessel is any type of ship or boat that is used for underwater surveys, usually to collect data for mapping or planning underwater construction or mineral extraction. It is a type of research vessel, and may be designed for the pu ...
examined the lagoon and reported it capable of holding 700 vessels—a capacity greater than either
Majuro
Majuro (; Marshallese language, Marshallese: ' ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Marshall Islands. It is also a large coral atoll of 64 islands in the Pacific Ocean. It forms a legislative district of the Ratak Chain, Ratak ( ...
or
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Reci ...
.
On 1 October 1944, the minesweeper USS ''YMS-385'' was sunk by a mine while clearing Zowariau
owatabuChannel.
The USN transferred the local islanders to the island of Fedarai for the duration of the hostilities. On 4 October 1944 the vessels of
Service Squadron 10 began leaving Eniwetok for Ulithi; Service Squadron 10 was termed by Admiral
Nimitz as his "secret weapon".
Its commanding officer, Commodore Worrall R. Carter, devised the mobile service force that made it possible for the Navy to convert Ulithi to the secret distant Pacific base used during the major naval operations undertaken late in the war, including
Leyte Gulf and the invasion of
Okinawa
most commonly refers to:
* Okinawa Prefecture, Japan's southernmost prefecture
* Okinawa Island, the largest island of Okinawa Prefecture
* Okinawa Islands, an island group including Okinawa itself
* Okinawa (city), the second largest city in th ...
. Service Squadron 10 converted the lagoon into a serviceable naval station, creating repair facilities and re-supply facilities thousands of miles away from an actual naval port. Pontoon piers of a new design were built at Ulithi, each consisting of the 4-by-12-pontoon sections, filled with sand and gravel, and then sunk. The pontoons were anchored in place by guy ropes to deadmen on shore, and by iron rods driven into the coral. Connecting tie pieces ran across the tops of the pontoons to hold them together into a pier. Despite extremely heavy weather on several occasions these pontoon piers stood up remarkably well. They gave extensive service, with little requirement for repairs. Piers of this type were also installed by the 51st Battalion to be used as aviation-gasoline mooring piers near the main airfield on Falalop.
[
]
Within a month of the occupation of Ulithi, a complete floating base was in operation. Six thousand ship fitters, artificers, welders, carpenters and electricians arrived aboard repair ships, destroyer tenders, and floating dry dock
A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...
s. had an air-conditioned optical shop and a metal fabrication shop with a supply of base metals from which she could make any alloy to form any part needed. , which looked like a big tanker, distilled fresh water and baked bread and pies. The ice cream barge made a shift.[ The dry docks towed to Ulithi were large enough to lift dry a 45,000-ton ]battleship
A battleship is a large, heavily naval armour, armored warship with a main battery consisting of large naval gun, guns, designed to serve as a capital ship. From their advent in the late 1880s, battleships were among the largest and most form ...
.[
Fleet oilers sortied from Ulithi to meet the task forces at sea, refueling the warships a short distance from their combat operational areas. The result was something never seen before: a vast floating service station enabling the entire Pacific fleet to operate indefinitely at unprecedented distances from its mainland bases. Ulithi was as far away from the US naval base at ]San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
as San Francisco was from London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, England. The Japanese had expected that the vastness of the Pacific Ocean would make it very difficult for the US to sustain operations in the western Pacific. With the Ulithi naval base to refit, repair and resupply, many ships were able to deploy and operate in the western Pacific for a year or more without returning to the naval base at Pearl Harbor.
The Japanese had built an airstrip on Falalop. It was expanded and resurfaced, the runway running the full width of the island. The east end of the strip was extended approximately past the natural shoreline. During the operations, 4,500 sacks of mail, of air freight and 1,200 passengers would use this airstrip. A number of small strips for light aircraft were built on several of the smaller islands. The Seabees completed a fleet recreation center at Mog Mog island that could accommodate 8,000 men and 1,000 officers daily. A 1,200-seat theater, including an stage with a Quonset hut
A Quonset hut is a lightweight prefabricated structure of corrugated galvanized steel with a semi-circular cross-section. The design was developed in the United States based on the Nissen hut introduced by the British during World War I. Hund ...
roof, was completed in 20 days. At the same time, a 500-seat chapel was built. A number of the larger islands were used both as bases to support naval vessels and facilities within the lagoon.
The Japanese still held Yap. Early after the US occupation they mounted a number of attacks but caused no damage to the Seabees working on the islands.
On 20 November 1944 the Ulithi harbor was attacked by Japanese ''kaiten
were crewed torpedoes and suicide attack, suicide craft, used by the Imperial Japanese Navy in the final stages of World War II.
Background
In recognition of the unfavorable progress of the war, towards the end of 1943 the Japanese high co ...
'' manned torpedo
A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...
es launched from two nearby submarine
A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...
s. The destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort
larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were conceived i ...
rammed one in the early morning hours. At 5:47 the fleet oiler , at anchor in the harbor, was struck and sunk. Destroyers began dropping depth charge
A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon designed to destroy submarine
A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited ...
s throughout the anchorage. After the war Japanese naval officers said that two tender submarines, each carrying four manned torpedoes, had been sent to attack the fleet at Ulithi. Three of the ''kaiten'' were unable to launch due to mechanical problems and another ran aground on the reef. Two did make it into the lagoon, one of which sank USS ''Mississinewa''. A second ''kaiten'' attack in January 1945 was foiled when ''I-48'' was sunk by the destroyer escort
Destroyer escort (DE) was the United States Navy mid-20th-century classification for a warship designed with the endurance necessary to escort mid-ocean convoys of merchant marine ships.
Development of the destroyer escort was promoted by th ...
. None of the 122 men aboard the Japanese submarine survived.
On 11 March 1945, in a mission known as Operation Tan No. 2
Operation Tan No. 2 (, ''Dainiji Tan Sakusen'') was a long-range ''kamikaze'' mission directed at the main Allied naval fleet anchorage at Ulithi Atoll in the western Pacific on 11 March 1945 during the Pacific campaign of World War II. The ...
, several long range aircraft flying from southern Japan attempted a nighttime ''kamikaze
, officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending to d ...
'' attack on the naval base. One struck the , which had left a cargo light on despite the blackout. The plane struck over the stern starboard quarter, damaging the flight deck
The flight deck of an aircraft carrier is the surface on which its aircraft take off and land, essentially a miniature airfield at sea. On smaller naval ships which do not have aviation as a primary mission, the landing area for helicopters ...
and killing a number of crewmen. Another crashed on Sorlen Island, having perhaps mistaken a signal tower there for the superstructure
A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships.
Aboard ships and large boats
On water craft, the superstruct ...
of an aircraft carrier.
By 13 March there were 647 ships at anchor at Ulithi, and with the arrival of amphibious forces staging for the invasion of Okinawa the number of ships at anchor peaked at 722.
In late June 1945, the Japanese aircraft-launching super submarines ''I-400'' and ''I-401'' were diverted from their planned attack on the Panama Canal
The Panama Canal () is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean. It cuts across the narrowest point of the Isthmus of Panama, and is a Channel (geography), conduit for maritime trade between th ...
to attack Ulithi Atoll. However, their mission was interrupted by the destruction of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, followed by the Japanese surrender.
After the Leyte Gulf was secured, the Pacific Fleet moved its forward staging area to Leyte, and Ulithi was all but abandoned. In the end, few US civilians ever heard of Ulithi. By the time naval security cleared release of the name, there were no longer reasons to print stories about it. The war had moved on, but for seven months in late 1944 and early 1945, the large lagoon of the Ulithi atoll was the largest and most active anchorage in the world.[
File:USS Randolph (CV-15) under repair.jpg, USS ''Randolph'' undergoing repairs following a ''kamikaze'' attack at Ulithi
File:Mail Call, Ulithi, 1944 (10170265846).jpg, The first mail call in almost three months for Marine Aircraft Group 45, 1944
File:"Tune Toppers" Perform for Troops, Ulithi, 1944 (10170343113).jpg, The musical group Tune Toppers performs on Ulithi, 1944.
]
Postwar
The LORAN
LORAN (Long Range Navigation) was a hyperbolic navigation, hyperbolic radio navigation system developed in the United States during World War II. It was similar to the UK's Gee (navigation), Gee system but operated at lower frequencies in order ...
(long-range navigation) station established on Potangeras during the naval occupation on the island continued to be operated by 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 ...
post-war. The station was moved from Potangeras to Falalop Island in 1952. According to an August 1950 "HQ Party Inspection" memo, the move was predicated on the distance between Falalop and Potangeras, requiring a "four hour DUKW mphibious transportride...". The memo goes on to state "...the use of DUKW is dangerous and will eventually lead to disaster. In addition considerable maintenance is required to keep the DUKW in an operating condition".
A 1956 USCG survey indicated that the station consisted of a BOQ and office, galley and meeting area, laundry building, barracks, signal-power building, recreation building and a "jumbo Quonset". All of the buildings, with the exception of the signal-power, were Quonset structures. The report discusses the daily life and routine at the station as follows:
General life on the station is relaxed and fairly routine. Life here can be boring, or very interesting, depending upon how much the individual desires to do. There are practically unlimited recreational facilities, but it is easy to neglect these and fall into a rather lethargic rut. The working hours ... are 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., six days a week. Afternoons and evenings are free ... Loran watch standers average about four hours on watch, ten off ... their off watch time is their own, and no daywork is expected from them. The uniform to be worn is chosen for coolness and health with shorts and sandals permissible and the rule rather than the exception. Dress blues are not needed here at all.
The Station is completely isolated, and there is no opportunity for liberty or leave. Of course, there is no use for cars here, and dependents are not allowed. All supplies and mail come from Guam ... flights averaging one every week or ten days. Every three months heavy supplies and fuel are delivered ... and once a year, makes a stop here.
The cost of living for personnel here is very cheap, with little opportunity to spend money. Necessary items such as soap, cigarettes, toothpaste are stocked and beer and soda are on sale during non-working hours. Native handicraft is limited to canoe models, small statutes and grass skirts, which seldom run more than five or six dollars. Once a month a shopping list is sent to Guam...men can order anything that can be purchased on Guam...there is always Sears and Roebuck
Sears, Roebuck and Co., commonly known as Sears ( ), is an American chain of department stores and online retailer founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwal ...
or Montgomery Ward
Montgomery Ward is the name of two successive U.S. retail corporations. The original Montgomery Ward & Co. was a mail-order business and later a department store chain that operated between 1872 and 2001; its common nickname was "Monkey Wards". ...
. Officers are charged for three meals a day, regardless whether they eat them or not...about $50.00 a month.
As mentioned before, the recreational facilities are numerous and varied, and include: Swimming...spear fishing...fishing...shelling...photography...leather craft...Ham radio...volleyball...tennis...pool...horse shoes...movies...baseball & softball...boat trips...shooting.
In conclusion...this station has many advantages and few disadvantages, as compared with other Loran Stations. The weather and climate are close to ideal, the station and equipment are in excellent repair, recreational facilities are many and varied, supplies and mail are better than average, and the natives are interesting, sincere honest people. The only disadvantage...is the isolation. All in all, this is a pretty wonderful place.
The station remained in operation until 1965, when it was again relocated to Yap.
A detailed census in 1949 reported that there were 421 inhabitants, mostly elderly. A follow-up census in 1960 showed a rise to 514, with the ratio of men to women having shifted to a small preponderance of males.
Typhoon Ophelia
Typhoon Ophelia struck the atoll on November 30, 1960, and caused significant damage both physically and socially.
The Coast Guard on the island of Falalop was first notified of a possible tropical disturbance two days prior to the actual typhoon. No action was taken at that time by the personnel other than to observe on a chart of the area the progress of the storm. The next day the station was notified from Guam that it was to take certain safeguarding precautions. While the personnel was engaged in this activity, the winds picked up so noticeably that the local commanding officer notified the Coast Guard section on Guam it was going to move...equipment, personal gear, and emergency rations to a concrete bunker.
Contemporary Ulithi
As a major staging area for 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 ...
in the final year of the Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, several sunken warships rest at the bottom of the Ulithi lagoon, including , a fleet oiler which sank fully loaded. In April 2001, sport divers located the wreckage, and four months later oil was observed leaking from the tanks. Several surveys were completed in 2001 and 2002 to determine the status of the wreckage and the leaks. Between January and February 2003, the Navy and subcontractors successfully emptied the fuel and oil, with 99% that remained in the wreckage removed.
Occasional diving and adventure tours visit Ulithi from Yap. Given permission from the local community, the atoll offers good diving.
Census
A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
records can be misleading because population can fluctuate during the year because it is common for Ulithians to leave for work or school abroad and to return. This is particularly true during festive times like the Outer Island High School graduation ceremony, when the population can increase considerably. Additionally, during events like wedding
A wedding is a ceremony in which two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnicity, ethnicities, Race (human categorization), races, religions, Religious denomination, denominations, Cou ...
s and funeral
A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect th ...
s, community populations may double.
In 2009, with funding from the European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
(EU) and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community
The Pacific Community (PC), formerly the South Pacific Commission (SPC), is an international development organisation governed by 27 members, including 22 Pacific island countries and territories around the Pacific Ocean. The organisation's hea ...
(SPC) partnership installed 215 solar photovoltaic
Photovoltaics (PV) is the conversion of light into electricity using semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect, a phenomenon studied in physics, photochemistry, and electrochemistry. The photovoltaic effect is commercially ...
(PV) system in Ulithi, with a 28 kWp (kilowatt peak) solar plant. Inverters with a capacity of 20 kW supply 240V / 60 Hz AC into an underground, ostensibly typhoon-proof grid.
= Typhoon Maysak
=
Reef damage from Typhoon Maysak in 2015 is still visible in places, but the reefs have largely recovered. Maysak also caused significant damage to the PV electrical grid system on the atoll.
Climate
Ulithi has a tropical rainforest climate
A tropical rainforest climate or equatorial climate is a tropical climate sub-type usually found within 10 to 15 degrees latitude of the equator. There are some other areas at higher latitudes, such as the coast of southeast Florida, United States ...
(Af) with heavy rainfall year-round.
Conservation
Since 2018, the Island Conservation group has led an effort with the local community to help stop invasive species from overtaking native green sea turtle
The green sea turtle (''Chelonia mydas''), also known as the green turtle, black (sea) turtle or Pacific green turtle, is a species of large sea turtle of the family Cheloniidae. It is the only species in the genus ''Chelonia''. Its range exte ...
s and seabirds. One of the non-native species they are attempting to eradicate is the monitor lizard, first introduced during the Japanese occupation to rid the islands of rats.
In 2019, the US Navy submarine tender visited the atoll, as part of the research for US plans for establishing a logistics network across the Pacific, with a Naval press release noting Ulithi "could again represent a logistical hub capable of supporting the fleet".
Transportation
Located on Falalop Island, the Ulithi Civil Airfield (IATA
The International Air Transport Association (IATA ) is an airline trade association founded in 1945. IATA has been described as a cartel since, in addition to setting technical standards for airlines, IATA also organized tariff conferences tha ...
code ULI, FAA Identifier TT02) serves as the main air link with the rest of Federated States of Micronesia. With no regularly scheduled flights, service is provided by Pacific Missionary Aviation.
Transport between the smaller closely located islands Ulithi is typically undertaken by motorboat. The ship Halipmohol operates as a Field Trip Ship, transiting on a semi-regular basis throughout the Yap outer islands. According to the Pacific Worlds website, it is customary to request permission from the Chief of Ulithi to visit the atoll.
Culture
Traditionally, Ulithi culture was based on matriarchal lineages. Each lineage had a male chief by seniority. Each village had a village council to help with everyday issues, as well as questions concerning the entire atoll. Land was owned by the lineages and parceled out for different uses. Women typically handle the agricultural duties, while men fished. Religion was pagan
Paganism (, later 'civilian') is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Christianity, Judaism, and Samaritanism. In the time of the ...
-based, spirits and ancestral ghosts. Magic was also incorporated into the everyday life, prevalent in disease/medicine, navigation, weather and fishing. Sociological studies showed that by 1960, after decades of influence by outsiders, the traditional religion had all but vanished, to be replaced by Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...
.
Language
In an annual report released in early 2010, the Habele charity announced plans to develop and distribute native-language materials for educators and students in the outer islands of Yap State, Micronesia. The first project was a Ulithian-to-English dictionary. This was the first rigorous documentation of the Ulithian language
Ulithian is the language spoken on Ulithi Atoll and neighboring islands. Ulithian is one of the six official languages of the Federated States of Micronesia. There are some 3,000 speakers, although only 700 of these live on Ulithi Atoll.
In 20 ...
, and copies were provided to educators and students throughout Ulithi and Fais."Charity Publishes Dictionary For Remote Micronesian Islanders"
COM-FSM, May 10, 2010. The authors' stated aim was to create a consistent and intuitive Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet, also known as the Roman alphabet, is the collection of letters originally used by the Ancient Rome, ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered except several letters splitting—i.e. from , and from � ...
useful for both native Ulithian and native English speakers.
Education
Public school:[Higher Education in the Federated States of Micronesia]
." Embassy of the Federated States of Micronesia Washington DC. Retrieved on February 23, 2018.
* Yap Outer Islands High School
References
External links
"Its existence kept secret throughout the war, the US naval base at Ulithi was for a time the world's largest naval facility"
George Spangler, March 1998
Ulithi in World War II
by Bob Hackett and Sander Kingsepp (Revision 2) at the Imperial Japanese Navy Page
Habele Outer Island Education Fund
an educational charity serving Ulithi
* A
() of the Catholic Church in Yap and Ulithi
{{Authority control
Atolls of the Federated States of Micronesia
Closed installations of the United States Navy
Islands of Yap
Municipalities of Yap
Pacific Ocean theater of World War II
United States Navy in World War II