Enewetak Atoll (; also spelled Eniwetok Atoll or sometimes Eniewetok; Marshallese: Ānewetak, [ænʲeːwɛːdˠɑk], or Āne-wātak, [ænʲeːwæːdˠɑk]; known to the Japanese as Brown Atoll or Brown Island; Japanese: ブラウン環礁) is a large coral atoll of 40 islands in the Pacific Ocean and with its 664 people (as of 2011) forms a legislative district of the Ralik Chain of the Marshall Islands. With a land area total less than 5.85 square kilometres (2.26 sq mi), it is no higher than 5 meters (16.4 ft) and surrounds a deep central lagoon, 80 kilometres (50 mi) in circumference. It is the second-westernmost atoll of the Ralik Chain and is 305 kilometres (190 mi) west from Bikini Atoll.
It was held by the Japanese from 1914 until its capture by the United States in February 1944, during World War II. Nuclear testing by the US totaling the equivalent of over 30 megatons of TNT took place during the cold war; in 1977–1980, a concrete dome (the Runit Dome) was built on Runit Island to deposit radioactive soil and debris.The Runit Dome is deteriorating and could be breached by a typhoon, though the sediments in the lagoon are even more radioactive than those which are contained.
1944Feb, 20
World War II: The United States takes Eniwetok Island.
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Events on 1944
- 10Apr
Auschwitz concentration camp
Rudolf Vrba and Alfréd Wetzler escape from Birkenau death camp. - 13Apr
Soviet Union
Diplomatic relations between New Zealand and the Soviet Union are established. - 26Jun
RAF
World War II: San Marino, a neutral state, is mistakenly bombed by the RAF based on faulty information, leading to 35 civilian deaths. - 26Aug
Charles de Gaulle
World War II: Charles de Gaulle enters Paris. - 31Dec
Nazi Germany
World War II: Hungary declares war on Nazi Germany.