| Wake Island (also known as Wake Atoll) is a coral atoll (having a coastline of 12 miles (19.3 kilometers)) in the North Pacific Ocean, located about two-thirds of the way from Honolulu (2,300 statute miles or 3,700 km west) to Guam (1,510 miles or 2,430 km east). It is an unorganized, unincorporated territory of the United States, part of the United States Minor Outlying Islands, administered by the Office of Insular Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior. Wake is located to the west of the International Date Line and is one day ahead of the 50 states. Access to the island is restricted and all current activities on the island are managed by the United States Air Force, the United States Army, and Chugach McKinley, Inc., a civilian base operations and maintenance services company.
Although Wake is officially called an island in the singular form, it is actually an atoll comprising three islands (Wake, Wilkes, and Peale) surrounding a central lagoon. Referring to the atoll as an island is the result of a pre-World War II desire by the United States Navy to distinguish Wake from other atolls, most of which were Japanese territory. The largest island (Wake Island) is the center of activity on the atoll and features a 9,800 foot (3,000 m) runway.
|
