Shemya

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Landsat image of Shemya Island.

Shemya or Simiya is a small island in the Semichi Islands southwest of Alaska, at 52°42′44.19″N, 174°06′49.03″E. It has a land area of 15.289 km² (5.903 sq mi). It is about 1,900 km (1,200 miles) southwest of Anchorage, Alaska.

The Russian vessel Saint Peter and Paul wrecked at Shemya in 1762. Most of the crew survived.

A United States Air Force radar, surveillance and weather station and aircraft refuelling station, including a 3 km (10,000 foot) long runway, opened on Shemya in 1943 and is still in operation. The station, originally Shemya Air Force Base or Shemya Station, had 1,500 workers at its peak in the 1960s.

The United States Air Force airborne intelligence platform "Cobra Ball" flew Intercontinental ballistic missile tracking flights from this island near the Soviet Union, especially the Kamchatka Peninsula, during the height of the Cold War.

The station was renamed the Eareckson Air Station in 1993 to honor USAF Colonel William O. Eareckson, who had commanded bomber operations during the Aleutian Campaign of World War II.

5 - Shemya Island

The station still operates as a radar station and aircraft refueling station with a staff of about 300 people. The 2000 census reported an official resident population of 27 persons on the island.

One of the most recognizable features of the island is the COBRA DANE radar system (AN/FPS-108). This radar system was built in 1976 and brought on-line in 1977 for the primary mission of intelligence gathering in support of verification of the Strategic Arms Limitation Treat (SALT) II agreement.

Shemya was an important outpost during the cold war. As part of Project Bluegrass, the White Alice Communications System, provided a vital tropospheric scatter communications link to the mainland during the late-60s to late-70s. Its two 120 ft parabolic reflectors and 50 kW transmitter output bridged the nearly 400 mile gap to Adak, Alaska.