Dutch Harbor Naval Operating Base and Fort Mears, U.S. Army

Dutch Harbor Naval Operating Base and Fort Mears, U.S. Army
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark District
Japanese attack on Dutch Harbor, June 3, 1942. Group of Marines on the alert between attacks
Location	Dutch Harbor, Unalaska, Alaska
Coordinates	53°53′17″N 166°32′31″W / 53.88806°N 166.54194°W / 53.88806; -166.54194
Area	1,000 acres (400 ha)
Built	1940
NRHP reference No.	85002733[1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	February 4, 1985
Designated NHLD	February 4, 1985[2]

The Dutch Harbor Naval Operating Base and Fort Mears were the two military installations built next to each other in Dutch Harbor, on Amaknak Island of the Aleutian Islands in Alaska, by the United States in response to the growing war threat with Imperial Japan during World War II. In 1938, the Navy Board recommended the construction which began in July 1940.^[3] The first United States Army troops arrived in June 1941 and an air base constructed by the United States Navy was finished in September 1941. At the time of the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, these were the only military installations in the Aleutian Islands.

On June 3–4, 1942, the two bases were bombed by Japanese planes operating from two aircraft carriers in a two-day event known as the Battle of Dutch Harbor, marking the first enemy aircraft strike on the American continent in history.