Coast Guard Modernization Banner

17th District Public Affairs

U.S. Coast Guard

Department of Homeland Security Coast Guard logo

Multimedia Release

Date: August 31, 2010

Contact: External Affairs Office

(907) 463-2065

Coast Guard decommissions last LORAN station

ATTU ISLAND, Alaska - The final 20 man crew of Loran Station Attu stand with veterans Ron Caswell (left) and Don Funk (right) atop the steps of the desommissioned Loran C station at Massacre Bay Aug. 27, 2010. The Loran signal operated for 66 years on Attu Island. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Sara Francis. ATTU ISLAND, Alaska - The battlefields of Attu lie quiet and now so will the Coast Guard Loran station decommissioned Aug. 27, 2010, after 66 years of service. The 20-man-crew are the last Coast Guardsmen to serve on the island and will be the last permanent residents rendering the island unihabited for the first time in generations. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Sara Francis. ATTU ISLAND, Alaska - Petty Officer 2nd Class Nathan Kinzel, an electronics technician, disconnects the final piece of communications equipment at Loran Station Attu, a VHF-FM radio used to contact the Coast Guard HC-130 Hercules aircraft that has regularly landed every two weeks with supplies and will be his final ride off the island following the decommissioning ceremony Aug. 27, 2010. The domestic Loran C signal was terminated Feb. 8, 2010 and the International signal, part of the Russian American Loran C chain, was terminated Aug. 1, 2010, signaling the end of Loran C service in Alaska. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Sara Francis. ATTU ISLAND, Alaska - Don Funk, a Lansing, Mich., resident and former Coast Guard Loran A technician, stands on the steps of the current Loran station in Attu with Massacre Bay stretching out behind him Aug. 27, 2010, but Funk served over a year at the original Loran A station located at Theodore Point during World War II when he was only 18-years-old. Loran Station Attu was the first of many stations for Funk who returned to the Loran station for the formal decommissioning ceremony. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Sara Francis.

JUNEAU, Alaska - The Coast Guard decommissioned Long Range Aid to Navigation Station Attu, the last Coast Guard LORAN station in Alaska and home of the westernmost Alaskan Coast Guard unit Thursday.

The Coast Guard began decommissioning its LORAN infrastructure in response to direction from Congress provided in the 2010 budget.  LORAN Station Attu ceased transmission of the North Pacific Chain LORAN signal Feb. 8 and the Russian-American Chain LORAN signal ceased Aug. 1.

The LORAN-C station has been operated continually by the Coast Guard personnel since 1961, providing long range radio navigational signals.  The tower had been in use since the LORAN-C station was moved from Casco Cove to Massacre Bay in 1960.

LORAN Station Attu was on the very soil where World War II's Battle of Attu took place May of 1943.

###

Saving Lives and Guarding the Coast Since 1790.
The United States Coast Guard -- Proud History. Powerful Future.

Printer Friendly Versionprinter friendly