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60-601: Midway Atoll ( colloquial : Midway Islands ; Hawaiian : Kuaihelani , lit.   'the backbone of heaven'; Pihemanu , 'the loud din of birds') is a 2.4 sq mi (6.2 km) atoll in the North Pacific Ocean. Midway Atoll is an insular area of the United States and is an unorganized and unincorporated territory. The largest island is Sand Island, which has housing and an airstrip. Immediately east of Sand Island, across

120-566: A National Historic Landmark . As part of the Base Realignment and Closure process, the Navy facility on Midway has been operationally closed since September   10, 1993. However, the Navy assumed responsibility for cleaning up environmental contamination. The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami on March 11 caused many deaths within the bird community on Midway. It was reported that

180-464: A floating dry dock joined the tender. After the Battle of Midway, a second airfield was developed on Sand Island. This work necessitated enlarging the island through landfill techniques that, when completed, more than doubled its size. From August 1, 1941, to 1945, U.S. military forces occupied Midway. In 1950, the Navy decommissioned Naval Air Station Midway , only to re-commission it again to support

240-403: A tropical savanna climate ( Köppen As ) with very pleasant year-round temperatures. Rainfall is fairly evenly distributed throughout the year, with only one month (June) having an average annual precipitation of less than 60 mm (2.4 in). Midway has no indigenous inhabitants and was uninhabited until the 19th century. The atoll was sighted on July 5, 1859, by Captain N.C. Brooks, of

300-582: A 1.5 m (4.9 ft) -tall wave completely submerged the atoll's reef inlets and Spit Island, killing more than 110,000 nesting seabirds at the National Wildlife Refuge . Scientists on the island, however, do not think it will have long-term negative impacts on the bird populations. A U.S. Geological Survey study found that the Midway Atoll, Laysan, and Pacific islands like them could become inundated and unfit to live on during

360-462: A U. S. Navy base not part of the State of Hawaii, Midway was a separate country for amateur radio purposes. During this era, there were two main amateur radio stations: KM6BI on Sand Island and KM6CE on Eastern Island. Many other amateurs operated under callsigns from their quarters. They all provided a vital link to home via messages and phone patches. From 1958 through 1960, the United States installed

420-563: A broad ocean area system for good positions outside the target area, was installed at Midway as part of the system supporting Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) tests. Other Pacific MILS shore terminals were at the Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay supporting Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM) tests with impact areas northeast of Hawaii and the other ICBM test support systems at Wake Island and Eniwetok . Eastern Island Eastern Island

480-714: A layer of upper Miocene (Tertiary g ) sediments and lower Miocene (Tertiary e ) limestones at the bottom overlying the basalts). What remains today is a shallow water atoll about 6 mi (9.7 km) across. Following Kure Atoll , Midway is the 2nd most northerly atoll in the world. The atoll has some 20 mi (32 km) of roads, 4.8 mi (7.7 km) of pipelines, one port on Sand Island ( World Port Index Nr. 56328, MIDWAY ISLAND), and an airfield. As of 2004, Henderson Field airfield at Midway Atoll, with its one active runway (rwy 06/24, around 8,000 ft (2,400 m) long) has been designated as an emergency diversion airport for aircraft flying under ETOPS rules. Although

540-539: A major naval battle near Midway resulted in the U.S. Navy inflicting a devastating defeat on the Imperial Japanese Navy . Four Japanese fleet aircraft carriers , Akagi , Kaga , Hiryū and Sōryū , were sunk, along with the loss of hundreds of Japanese aircraft, losses that the Japanese Empire would never be able to replace. The U.S. lost the aircraft carrier Yorktown , along with

600-635: A name or term commonly used to identify a person or thing in non-specialist language, in place of another usually more formal or technical name. In the philosophy of language , "colloquial language" is ordinary natural language , as distinct from specialized forms used in logic or other areas of philosophy. In the field of logical atomism , meaning is evaluated in a different way than with more formal propositions . Colloquialisms are distinct from slang or jargon . Slang refers to words used only by specific social groups, such as demographics based on region, age, or socio-economic identity. In contrast, jargon

660-597: A number of its carrier- and land-based aircraft that were either shot down by Japanese forces or bombed on the ground at the airfields. The Battle of Midway was, by most accounts, the beginning of the end of the Imperial Japanese Navy's control of the Pacific Ocean. Starting in July 1942, a submarine tender was always stationed at the atoll to support submarines patrolling Japanese waters. In 1944,

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720-620: A small boat to seek help. On 19 December, four of the men perished when the boat was upset in the breakers off of Kauai . The survivor reached the U.S. Consulate in Honolulu on Christmas Eve . Relief ships were despatched and reached Kure Atoll on 4 January 1871. The survivors of the Saginaw wreck reached Honolulu on 14 January 1871. In 1903, workers for the Commercial Pacific Cable Company took up residence on

780-628: Is a barrier to communication for those people unfamiliar with the respective field. William Reynolds (naval officer) William Reynolds (December 10, 1815 – November 5, 1879) was a rear admiral in the United States Navy who served during the American Civil War . His younger brother was United States Army general John F. Reynolds . Reynolds was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania on December 10 1815, and joined

840-423: Is most commonly used within specific occupations, industries, activities, or areas of interest. Colloquial language includes slang, along with abbreviations, contractions, idioms, turns-of-phrase, and other informal words and phrases known to most native speakers of a language or dialect. Jargon is terminology that is explicitly defined in relationship to a specific activity, profession, or group. The term refers to

900-400: Is not necessarily connected to the difference between formal and colloquial. Formal, colloquial, and vulgar language are more a matter of stylistic variation and diction , rather than of the standard and non-standard dichotomy. The term "colloquial" is also equated with "non-standard" at times, in certain contexts and terminological conventions. A colloquial name or familiar name is

960-711: Is one hour behind the time in the Hawaii–Aleutian Time Zone used in Hawaii. For statistical purposes, Midway is grouped as one of the United States Minor Outlying Islands . The Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge , encompassing 590,991.50 acres (239,165.77 ha) of land and water in the surrounding area, is administered by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). The refuge and surrounding area are part of

1020-638: Is preferred in formal usage, but this does not mean that the colloquial expression is necessarily slang or non-standard . Some colloquial language contains a great deal of slang, but some contains no slang at all. Slang is often used in colloquial speech, but this particular register is restricted to particular in-groups, and it is not a necessary element of colloquialism. Other examples of colloquial usage in English include contractions or profanity . "Colloquial" should also be distinguished from "non-standard". The difference between standard and non-standard

1080-539: Is roughly equidistant between North America and Asia and lies almost halfway around the world longitudinally from Greenwich , England. It is near the northwestern end of the Hawaiian archipelago, 1,310 miles (2,110 km) northwest of Honolulu , Hawaii, and about one-third of the way from Honolulu to Tokyo , Japan. Unlike the rest of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands , Midway is not part of

1140-413: Is termed a colloquialism. The most common term used in dictionaries to label such an expression is colloquial . Colloquialism or general parlance is distinct from formal speech or formal writing . It is the form of language that speakers typically use when they are relaxed and not especially self-conscious. An expression is labeled colloq. for "colloquial" in dictionaries when a different expression

1200-769: The Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge and the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. In 2007, the Monument's name was changed to Papahānaumokuākea ( Hawaiian pronunciation: [ˈpɐpəˈhaːnɔuˈmokuˈaːkeə] ) Marine National Monument. The National Monument is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the State of Hawaii. In 2016, President Barack Obama expanded

1260-728: The Korean War . Thousands of troops on ships and aircraft stopped at Midway for refueling and emergency repairs. Midway Island was a Naval Air Facility from 1968 to September   10, 1993. With about 3,500 people living on Sand Island, Midway supported the U.S. troops during the Vietnam War . In June 1969, President Richard Nixon met South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu at the Officer-in-Charge house, also known as "Midway House". Amateur Radio Because of its particularly remote location and political status as

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1320-614: The Martin M-130 flying boats operated by Pan American Airlines . The M-130s island-hopped from San Francisco to the Republic of China , providing the fastest and most luxurious route to the Far East and bringing tourists to Midway until 1941. Only the wealthy could afford the trip, which in the 1930s cost more than three times the annual salary of an average American. With Midway on the route between Honolulu and Wake Island ,

1380-727: The Missile Impact Location System (MILS) in the Navy-managed Pacific Missile Range, later the Air Force-managed Western Range , to localize the splashdowns of test missile nose cones. MILS was developed and installed by the same entities that had completed the first phase of the Atlantic and U.S. West Coast SOSUS systems. A MILS installation, consisting of both a target array for precision location and

1440-650: The Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS), Naval Facility (NAVFAC) Midway Island, to track Soviet submarines. The facility became operational in 1968 and was commissioned on January   13, 1969. It remained secret until its decommissioning on September   30, 1983, after data from its arrays had been remoted first to Naval Facility Barbers Point, Hawaii, in 1981 and then directly to the Naval Ocean Processing Facility (NOPF) Ford Island, Hawaii. U.S. Navy WV-2 In 1978,

1500-555: The sealing ship Gambia . The islands were named the "Middlebrook Islands". Brooks claimed Midway for the United States under the Guano Islands Act of 1856, which authorized Americans to occupy uninhabited islands temporarily to obtain guano . There is no record of any attempt to mine guano on the island. On August   28, 1867, Captain William Reynolds of USS  Lackawanna formally took possession of

1560-404: The 200 species of plants on Midway, 75 percent are non-native. Recent efforts have focused on removing non-native plant species and re-planting native species. Lead paint on the buildings posed an environmental hazard ( avian lead poisoning ) to the albatross population of the island. In 2018, a project to strip the paint was completed. Colloquialism A specific instance of such language

1620-498: The 21st century, due to increased storm waves and rising sea levels . Midway was designated an overlay National Wildlife Refuge on April   22, 1988, while still under the primary jurisdiction of the Navy. From August 1996, the general public could visit the atoll through study ecotours . This program ended in 2002, but another visitor program was approved and began operating in March 2008. This program operated through 2012, but

1680-596: The FWS closed all airport operations on November   22, 2004, public access to the island was restored in March 2008. Eastern Island Airstrip is a disused airfield used by U.S. forces during the Battle of Midway. It is mostly constructed of Marston Mat and was built by the United States Navy Seabees . Despite being located at 28°12′   N, which is north of the Tropic of Cancer , Midway Atoll has

1740-560: The Japanese rose, Midway was deemed second only to Pearl Harbor in importance to the protection of the U.S. West Coast . Airstrips, gun emplacements, and a seaplane base quickly materialized on the tiny atoll. The channel was widened, and Naval Air Station Midway was completed. Midway was also an important submarine base. On February 14, 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8682 to create naval defense areas in

1800-610: The Navy downgraded Midway from a Naval Air Station to a Naval Air Facility, and many personnel and dependents began leaving the island. With the war in Vietnam over and with the introduction of reconnaissance satellites and nuclear submarines, Midway's significance to U.S. national security was diminished. The World War II facilities at Sand and Eastern Islands were listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May   28, 1987, and were simultaneously added as

1860-643: The Navy in 1831. His first assignment was to the Boxer , in which he toured Africa, Brazil and the Malay Archipelago . In 1837, he was promoted to passed midshipman and to lieutenant in 1841. From 1838 to 1842, he served with the U.S. Exploring Expedition , and was among the first to sight the Antarctic mainland, along with Henry Eld . In 1842, he was assigned to the Cumberland . In 1862, he

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1920-707: The Pacific. In 1867, he was the officer to formally claim the Midway Atoll for the United States, after its discovery by a sealing ship in 1859. In 1870, he was made a commodore and was made the Chief of the Bureau of Equipment . In 1873, he was promoted to rear admiral and given command of the Asiatic Squadron from his flagship, the steam frigate Tennessee . Reynolds served as the acting Secretary of

1980-578: The Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument and added the Office of Hawaiian Affairs as a fourth co-trustee of the monument. The so-called Gooney monument shown in the image was carved from a 30-foot (9.1 m) mahogany log as a personal project by a U.S. Navy dental officer stationed on the island. The project began in 1949. The statue was 11 feet (3.4 m) tall and stood for 40 years before succumbing to termite damage. It

2040-669: The State of Hawaii due to the Hawaiian Organic Act of 1900 that formally annexed Hawaii to the United States as a territory, which defined Hawaii as "the islands acquired by the United States of America under an Act of Congress entitled 'Joint resolution to provide for annexing the Hawaiian Islands to the United States,'" referring to the Newlands Resolution of 1898. While it could be argued that Midway became part of Hawaii when Captain N.C. Brooks of

2100-408: The atoll as part of their efforts to conserve the species. Over 250 different species of marine life are found in the 300,000 acres (120,000 ha) of the lagoon and surrounding waters. The critically endangered Hawaiian monk seals raise their pups on the beaches, relying on the atoll's reef fish, squid, octopus, and crustaceans. Green sea turtles , another threatened species, occasionally nest on

2160-567: The atoll for the United States; the name changed to "Midway" some time after this. The atoll was the first Pacific island annexed by the United States as the Unincorporated Territory of Midway Island and was administered by the United States Navy . The first attempt at settlement was in 1870 when the Pacific Mail Steamship Company started a project of blasting and dredging a ship channel through

2220-507: The atoll from invasion. The battle was a critical Allied victory and a significant turning point of the Pacific campaign of World War II . About 50 people live on Sand Island: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service staff and contract workers. Visiting the atoll is possible only for business reasons, which includes permanent and temporary staff, contractors, and volunteers, as the tourism program has been suspended due to budget cutbacks. In 2012,

2280-455: The central Pacific territories. The proclamation established the "Midway Island Naval Defensive Sea Area", which encompassed the territorial waters between the extreme high-water marks and the three mi (4.8 km) marine boundaries surrounding Midway. "Midway Island Naval Airspace Reservation" was also established to restrict access to the airspace over the naval defense sea area. Only U.S. government ships and aircraft were permitted to enter

2340-531: The flying boats landed in the atoll and pulled up to a float offshore in the lagoon. Tourists transferred to the Pan Am Hotel or the "Gooneyville Lodge", named after the ubiquitous "Gooney birds" ( albatrosses ), in this case Laysan Albatross and Black-footed Albatross . The military importance of the location of Midway in the Pacific included its use as a convenient refueling stop on transpacific flights and for Navy ships. Beginning in 1940, as tensions with

2400-482: The island as part of the effort to lay a trans-Pacific telegraph cable. To make the island more verdant, these workers introduced many non-native species to the island, including the canary , cycad , Norfolk Island pine , she-oak/Ironwood , coconut , and various deciduous trees; along with some 9,000 short tons (8,200 t) of soil from Oahu and Guam. Ants, cockroaches, termites, centipedes, and countless other organisms were unintentionally introduced to Midway and

2460-485: The island of Lanai . As the volcano piled up, lava flows built the island, its weight depressed the crust, and the island slowly subsided for millions of years, a process known as isostatic adjustment . As the island subsided, a coral reef around the former volcanic island could maintain itself near sea level by growing upwards. That reef is now over 516 ft (157 m) thick (in the lagoon, 1,261 ft (384 m), comprised mostly of post- Miocene limestones with

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2520-533: The island. The first was found in 2006 on Spit Island and another in 2007 on Sand Island. A resident pod of 300 spinner dolphins lives in the lagoons and nearshore waters. Human habitation has extensively altered the islands of Midway Atoll. Starting in 1869 with the project to blast the reefs and create a port on Sand Island, the environment of Midway Atoll has experienced profound changes. Several invasive exotics have been introduced; for example, ironwood trees from Australia were planted to act as windbreaks. Of

2580-533: The jurisdiction of the state. Midway Atoll is approximately 140 nmi (260 km; 160 mi) east of the International Date Line , about 2,800 nmi (5,200 km; 3,200 mi) west of San Francisco , and 2,200 nmi (4,100 km; 2,500 mi) east of Tokyo. Midway Atoll is part of a chain of volcanic islands, atolls, and seamounts extending from the Island of Hawaii up to

2640-419: The language used by people who work in a particular area or who have a common interest. Similar to slang, it is shorthand used to express ideas, people, and things that are frequently discussed between members of a group. Unlike slang, it is often developed deliberately. While a standard term may be given a more precise or unique usage amongst practitioners of relevant disciplines, it is often reported that jargon

2700-483: The larger Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument . From 1941 until 1993, the atoll was the home of Naval Air Facility Midway Island , which played a crucial role in the Battle of Midway , June 4–6, 1942. Aircraft based at the then-named Henderson Field on Eastern Island joined with United States Navy ships and planes in an attack on a Japanese battle group that sank four carriers and one heavy cruiser and defended

2760-407: The last year that the visitor program was in operation, 332 people made the trip to Midway. Tours focused on the unique ecology of Midway and its military history. The economy is derived solely from governmental sources. Nearly all supplies must be brought to the island by ship or plane, although a hydroponic greenhouse and garden supply some fresh fruits and vegetables. As its name suggests, Midway

2820-588: The narrow Brooks Channel, is Eastern Island, which is uninhabited and no longer has any facilities. Forming a rough, incomplete circle around the two main islands and creating Midway Lagoon is Spit Island, a narrow reef . Roughly equidistant between North America and Asia, Midway is the only island in the Hawaiian Archipelago that is not part of the state of Hawaii . Unlike the other Hawaiian islands, Midway observes Samoa Time ( UTC−11:00 , i.e., eleven hours behind Coordinated Universal Time ), which

2880-537: The naval defense areas at Midway Atoll unless authorized by the Secretary of the Navy . Midway's importance to the U.S. was brought into focus on December   7, 1941, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor . Two destroyers bombarded Midway on the same day; this was the first Bombardment of Midway . A Pan-Am flying clipper stopped at Midway and evacuated passengers and Pan-American employees from Wake island, which had also been attacked earlier that day. The clipper

2940-674: The reef to the lagoon using money put up by the United States Congress . The purpose was to establish a mid-ocean coaling station to avoid the high taxes imposed at ports controlled by the Kingdom of Hawai'i . The project was a failure, and the USS ; Saginaw evacuated the channel project's workforce in October 1870. The ship ran aground on 21 October at Kure Atoll , stranding 93 men. On 18 November, five men set out in

3000-693: The sealing ship Gambia sighted it in 1859, it was assumed at the time that Midway was independently acquired by the United States when Captain William Reynolds of USS  Lackawanna visited in 1867, and thus not part of the Hawaii Territory. In defining which islands the state of Hawaii would inherit from the Territory, the Hawaii Admission Act of 1959 clarified the question, specifically excluding Midway (along with Palmyra Island , Johnston Island , and Kingman Reef ) from

3060-482: The soil. On January 20, 1903, the United States Navy opened a radio station in response to complaints from cable company workers about Japanese squatters and poachers . Between 1904 and 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt stationed 21 Marines on the island to end wanton destruction of bird life and keep Midway safe as a U.S. possession , protecting the cable station. In 1935, operations began for

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3120-570: The table above. The atoll, which has a small population (approximately 60 in 2014, but no indigenous inhabitants), is designated an insular area under the authority of the United States Department of the Interior . Midway was formed roughly 28 million years ago when the seabed underneath it was over the same hotspot from which the Island of Hawaii is now being formed. Midway was once a shield volcano , perhaps as large as

3180-553: The tip of the Aleutian Islands and known as the Hawaiian–Emperor seamount chain , between Pearl and Hermes Atoll and Kure Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands . It consists of a ring-shaped barrier reef nearly 5 mi (8.0 km) in diameter and several sand islets. The two significant pieces of land, Sand Island and Eastern Island, provide a habitat for millions of seabirds. The island sizes are shown in

3240-421: The world's Laysan albatross population and 34–39 percent of the global population of black-footed albatross . A minimal number of the very rare short-tailed albatross also have been observed. Fewer than 2,200 individuals of this species are believed to exist due to excessive feather hunting in the late nineteenth century. In 2007–08, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service translocated 42 endangered Laysan ducks to

3300-871: Was completed. On September 13, 2000, Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt designated the Wildlife Refuge as the Battle of Midway National Memorial. The refuge is now called the "Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge and Battle of Midway National Memorial". On June 15, 2006, President George W. Bush designated the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands as a national monument. The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument encompasses 105,564 sq nmi (139,798 sq mi; 362,074 km) and includes 3,910 sq nmi (5,178 sq mi; 13,411 km) of coral reef habitat. The Monument also includes

3360-690: Was home to the Naval Security Group Activity, Midway Island, from July 1, 1954, until February 1971. The activity operated AN/GRD-6 High-Frequency Direction Finder, which was part of the Eastern and Western Pacific HFDF networks. During the Cold War , the U.S. established a shore terminal, in which output of the array at sea was processed and displayed utilizing the Low-Frequency Analyzer and Recorder (LOFAR) , of

3420-448: Was on its usual passenger route to Guam when the attack on Pearl Harbor happened; it then made a return journey going from Wake to Midway, Honolulu, and back to the USA. A Japanese submarine bombarded Midway on February   10, 1942. In total, Midway had been attacked 4 times between 7 December 1941 and the Japanese submarine attack of 10 February 1942. Four months later, on June 4, 1942,

3480-525: Was promoted to commander and given his first ship, the Vermont , a receiving ship at Port Royal, South Carolina . (When that ship was replaced by the New Hampshire , he was transferred to command it.) He was subsequently given command of the depot there. In 1865, Reynolds was promoted to captain and given command of the screw sloop Lackawanna after the American Civil War , assigned to

3540-530: Was replaced with a mock egg after its removal. Midway Atoll forms part of the Northwest Hawaiian Islands Important Bird Area (IBA), designated as such by BirdLife International because of its seabirds and endemic landbirds. The atoll is a critical habitat in the central Pacific Ocean and includes breeding habitat for 17 seabird species. Many native species rely on the island, which is now home to 67–70 percent of

3600-425: Was suspended in 2013 due to budget cuts. On October 31, 1996, President Bill Clinton signed Executive Order 13022, which transferred the jurisdiction and control of the atoll to the United States Department of the Interior. The FWS assumed management of the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. The last contingent of Navy personnel left Midway on June   30, 1997, after an ambitious environmental cleanup program

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