LORAN STATION WAKE ISLAND
Station Information
| Site Survey: | 27 SEP 1948 – USCGC KUKUI |
| Construction Date: | Construction started
in JUN 1950 Station rebuilt 1959 |
| Constructed by: | |
| Established: Commissioned: |
16 OCT 1950 - Pre-comm
status 1951 |
| Decommissioned: Disestablished: |
JAN 1978
|
| Operated by: |
USCG |
| Project code name: |
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| Unit Identifier: |
1950: 14-350580 |
| Mail address: | APO, San Francisco, CA 96501 |
| AKA: |
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| HAM Call Sign: |
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| Personnel Allowance: | JAN 1953: 1 Officer; 9 Enlisted |
| Station Mascot: | 1950's - Lucky 1960s - Hooligan 1975 - Felix (cat) |
| Station events: | 1942 JAN 12: Japanese put all Americans on transports except for 98 civilian workers to be used as force labor. During the transit to POW camps, The Japanese beheaded five American Marines for retribution for the fighting on Wake. 1943 OCT 05: Japanese executed 98 American civilian workers believing an American invasion to take place. 1952 SEP 16: Typhoon OLIVE (CAT4/5) devastated the entire island. The station Off Air until September 26. Station crew took refuge in a WWII Japanese cave. 1952 OCT 01: A Search and Rescue Group consisting of a RCC, Air Detachment and Loran station was established. 1957: CO married the only single woman on the island aboard a Standard Oil Tanker by the ship's captain. 1959: Station rebuilt on Peale Island 1967 SEP 16: Typhoon SARAH struck the island with 138 mph winds. Island was completely devastated. |
| Commanding Officers: | 1951 - 1952 1952 - 1953 LTJG Thomas J. Collins (MAR – MAR) 1953 - 1954 1954 - 1955 LT Marshall K. Phillips 1955 1955 - 1956 1956 - 1957 LTJG Charles E. Mathieu (MAR – 01 APR) 1957 - 1958 LTJG James Fournier (01 APR – APR) 1958 - 1959 1959 - 1960 LTJG James J. Rooney 1960 - 1961 LTJG John W. Kime 1961 - 1962 1962 - 1963 LTJG Edmond G. Case 1963 - 1964 LTJG Eugene J. Hickey 1964 - 1965 LTJG Brian P. Richards 1965 - 1967 LTJG John A. Wuestneck* 1967 - 1968 LTJG James V. O'Neill (01 APR - ?) 1968 - 1969 LTJG Robert F. Harrington 1969 - 1970 LTJG Raymond J. Pratte 1970 - 1972 LTJG Theodore T. Musselman 1972 - 1972 LTJG Michael T. Eberhardt 1973 - 1974 LTJG Robert M.Griswold 1974 - 1975 LTJG Robert D. Innes 1975 - 1976 LTJG Bruce Austin 1976 - 1977 LTJG Michael M. Blume 1977 - 1978 LTJG F. M. Rosa (? - JAN) Decomm CO * Promoted to LT during tour |
Station Operations
LORAN-A
19 18 48.70N – 166 37 17.16E (1960 Mercury Datum)
| Chain: | MARSHALL ISLANDS |
| Station Letter designation: | 1H1 "W" |
| Radio Call Sign: | |
| Declared Operational date: | 011300Z MAR 1951 |
| Operations terminated: | 312400Z DEC 1977 |
| Station Operation: |
Single SLAVE/SECONDARY (SS) |
| Station pair: Loran rate: Coding delay: Baseline: |
WAKE ISLAND (S) - ENIWETOK (M) 1L0; 1H1 1000us Approx. 535 Nautical miles |
| On-air testing date: | 24 JAN 1951 |
| On-Air: | 1L0: 011300Z MAR 1951 1H1: 1970 |
| Off-Air: | 1970: 1L0 Change of rate 312400Z DEC 1977 Loran-A service terminated |
| Monitor Rate: | Cross rate monitoring |
| Equipment: | OCT 1950 - UE-1 Timers, T-137A Transmitters 128Kw 1966: AN/FPN-30 Timers; AN/FPA-2 |
| Radiator: | 1951:Vertical radiator, 120ft 1966 JUL 01-02: Off-air for replacement of tower 1971: new 119ft vertical tower installed with one piece fiberglass rods |
Fred's Place Reunion Hall: OLD NEW
Awards:
U.S. Air Force Outstanding Unit
04 APR - 03 SEP 1975
U.S.C.G. Humanitarian Service Medal
04 APR - 03 SEP 1975
Documents:
1950 Signal radiation issues - location of antennas - pdf
1950 OCT 09 Notication of Pre-commissioning - pdf
22 JUN 1956 Oversea Loran Station Survey - pdf
Pictures:
Ed Stewart 1970-72 photo collection
(courtesy of Jim Rooney)
LTJG Jim Rooney and BMC Lurther Furgueron (Station Chief) c./1959
(courtesy of Jim Rooney)
CO's quarters and office c./1959
1. In 1959, the station's mascot was an older dog named "Lucky".
When my father asked why the name, the answer was that he was the
grandfather of most (if not all) of the dogs on Wake Island. :-))
2. Behind the CO's quarters was an old Japanese bunker. They dug out
the bunker and located quite a few supplies including a 55-gal drum
of white paint. They ended up painting all the station buildings,
considerably sprucing up the station from the previous unpainted
concrete. Later that year the District Commander came around and was
convinced that someone smuggled by air (at considerable cost) the
paint to the island.
Reconstruction of the station was at least several years prior to 1959. Can't remember exactly when. First iteration at Wake was destroyed by a typhoon which occurred about 1950. The concrete pad floor of the first quonset type construction we converted to an outdoor movie area. We had lots of "legitimate" deals going on that truly served the purpose of morale. For the year I was there the loran efficiency increased every month to a high 99+percentage. Wonderful tour. Fantastic crew. BMC Luke Furgeron was a truly competent high performer as XO. Probably the best command I every had. I should write a book. Made great friends in the CG and out. I wish I could go back to see Peale, Wake and Wilkes again.
Loran Station Wake Island and Eniwetok were
Loran-A slaves to Kwajalein which functioned as the Master station.
Wake received 7 NMPX movies every week on the Navy SAR aircraft that
flew up from "Kwaj" every Saturday to exchange crew and aircraft.
We received the U.S. Mail six days each week, and had permission
(like many) to operate on the ham radio band with our ham licensed
ham Chief ET. That was good for about six months of the year.
With the Vietnam build up passenger carrying prop-driven aircraft
were landing pretty much around the clock for a fuel and feed stop
before continuing to Japan and other Asian points west. The
first Pan-Am 707 jet landed about a month or so before I was
relieved. Years later I discovered that the same 707 jet
engines were also on the CGC DALLAS I commanded later on in the
70's.
Thanks Jim!
Station mascot "Hooligan"
(courtesy U.S. Coast Guard c./Dec 1966)
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