Project Hula

Project Hula
Part of the Pacific War of World War II
Fort Randall at Cold Bay, Territory of Alaska, in 1942. Project Hula took place here in 1945. The head of the bay itself is at center right.
Operational scope	Transfer of US Navy vessels to the Soviet Union in anticipation of the Invasion of Japan
Location	Cold Bay, Territory of Alaska
Date	20 March 1945 (1945-03-20) – 30 September 1945 (1945-09-30)
Outcome	Japan surrendered before completion of the operation

Project Hula was a secret program during World War II in which the United States transferred naval vessels to the Soviet Union in anticipation of the Soviets eventually joining the war against Japan, specifically in preparation for planned Soviet invasions of southern Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. Based at Cold Bay in the Territory of Alaska, the project was active during the spring and summer of 1945. It was the largest and most ambitious transfer program of World War II, it included 149 ships delivered (of 180 expected, returned until 1955) and 12,000 personnel trained between 16 April and 4 September 1945 (well after the armistice of 15 August and the surrender of Japan on 2 September) and the US-handed then-Soviet ships took part in the last war operations of 5 September in Manchukuo, northern Korea, the Japanese south of Sakhalin Island, and the Kuril Islands.