Greenland Patrol facts for kids

The USCG cutter Northland operating off Greenland.

The Greenland Patrol was a special operation by the United States Coast Guard during World War II. Its main job was to help the U.S. Army build airfields in Greenland. These airfields were important for planes flying to the British Isles. The patrol also protected Greenland, especially from German activities in the northeast.

Coast Guard ships worked with planes and even dog sled teams. They patrolled the coast of Greenland, looking for any signs of Axis military actions. The patrol also guided Allied ships, built navigation and communication stations, and helped with rescues. They also provided important weather information from 1941 to 1945.

Why Greenland Was Important

Weather and War Strategy

Greenland played a big role in predicting weather. Weather observations from Greenland helped forecast conditions over the Atlantic Ocean and northern Europe. This was a huge advantage for the Allies during the Battle of the Atlantic and the war in Europe.

Greenland had been part of Denmark for a long time. When Germany took over Denmark in April 1940, Greenland seemed unprotected. The Allies worried that Germany might try to set up military bases there.

Valuable Resources in Greenland

Greenland also had a very important mine at Ivittuut. This mine produced cryolite, a mineral needed to make aluminum. Aluminum was essential for building airplanes, which were vital for the war effort.

Early US Involvement

The United States Coast Guard already knew a lot about the waters around Greenland. They had been part of the International Ice Patrol since 1915. After talks with Denmark, the U.S. opened an office in Nuuk. The USCGC Comanche took the first American official to Ivittuut in May 1940.

The U.S. then agreed to sell weapons to Greenland. Fourteen Coast Guardsmen became civilian guards to protect the cryolite mine. The USCGC Duane flew over Greenland's west coast in August 1940 to map the area. At the same time, the USCGC Northland sailed along the east coast. It looked for any European military activity and gathered information for a new map of Greenland.

Northland found three weather stations run by Norwegians who were sending information to Germany. The U.S. told the British, who sent a Norwegian gunboat to arrest them and close the stations.

In March 1941, the USCGC Cayuga left Boston. It carried the South Greenland Survey Expedition. Their mission was to find good spots for airfields, seaplane bases, radio stations, and weather stations. Northland took over from Cayuga in May 1941. Cayuga was then given to the Royal Navy.

Building Airfields in Greenland

The United States officially occupied Greenland on April 9, 1941. As the survey results came in, construction began. A radio and weather station was built on Akia Island. Airfields were built at Narsarsuaq and near Ivittuut.

Narsarsuaq Air Base was secretly called Bluie West 1 (BW1). It became the main Allied airfield in Greenland. Thousands of planes stopped there to refuel on their way to England.

German Weather Operations

In late 1942, Germany started "Operation Notch." They sent a weather team to eastern Greenland on the ship Hermann. The ship got stuck in ice, but the team sent weather reports. They hoped not to be found in the dark polar winter. Germany tried similar operations later with other weather ships like Coburg in 1943 and Kehdingen in 1944.

History of the Patrol

Forming the Patrols

A South Greenland Patrol started on June 1, 1941. It included the ship Bowdoin, the tug USS Raritan, and cutters USCGC Comanche and USCGC Modoc. A month later, the Northeast Greenland Patrol was set up with USS Bear, USCGC North Star, and USCGC Northland.

In October 1941, these two patrols joined together. They became Task Force 24.8, known as the Greenland Patrol of the Atlantic Fleet. USCG Commander Edward H. Smith became the commander of this new force. He was soon promoted to Captain.

Key Events and Challenges

On September 12, 1941, Northland stopped the Norwegian ship Buskø. This ship was helping a German radio station send weather information to Germany. Northland captured the ship and the radio station. The German personnel were taken to Boston.

The Greenland Patrol was in charge of guiding ships that brought soldiers and supplies to Greenland. Sometimes, they had to break through ice to help ships arrive. On August 25, 1942, the USCGC Mojave was guiding the Army ship Chatham. Other Coast Guard ships were guiding other parts of the convoy. German submarines attacked the convoy. Chatham and another ship were sunk, and a third ship was damaged.

Sledge Patrols and Navigation Aids

People from Denmark, Norway, and Inuit communities joined a sledge patrol. Their job was to look for more German weather stations along the coast. These sledge teams also rescued Allied airmen who had to land on Greenland's ice cap.

Coast Guard teams built lights, markers, and LORAN radio beacons to help ships navigate. In November 1942, Northland landed 41 men and equipment to set up a special radio station on Jan Mayen island. The sledge patrol attacked the German weather station that Hermann had supported. They captured some German personnel, and the rest were rescued by German planes. Hermann was later sunk by Allied planes.

Trawlers and Tragedies

In the summer of 1942, the Greenland Patrol added ten fishing trawlers. These ships were bought in Boston and painted in camouflage colors. They were given Inuit names. One of them, Natsek, disappeared on December 17, 1942. It was sailing in a bad storm with heavy snow and was never seen again. It might have sunk from ice building up on the ship. The surviving trawlers were returned to their owners in 1944.

On February 2, 1943, the troopship SS Dorchester was hit by a German submarine. It was being escorted by USCGC Tampa, Escanaba, and Comanche. Despite the rescue efforts by the cutters, 675 men died from hypothermia (extreme cold) or drowning. This was one of the worst U.S. troopship sinkings of the war. Later, on June 13, 1943, Escanaba was destroyed by a mysterious explosion.

Air Support and Final Operations

From October 1943, Coast Guard planes (12 Consolidated PBY Catalinas) flew from Narsarsuaq Air Base and other locations. They searched for submarines, delivered mail, rescued people, and checked ice conditions for the ships. Aircraft greatly improved the patrol's work when the weather allowed them to fly.

Greenland Patrol ships also acted as "plane guards." They stayed at certain spots in the Davis Strait, Denmark Strait, and near Cape Farewell. They kept in radio contact with planes flying across the Atlantic and rescued any planes that had to land in the sea. In November 1943, USCG Commodore Earl G. Rose took over command of the Greenland Patrol.

Between July and October 1944, several Coast Guard ships, including Northland, Storis, Eastwind, and Southwind, worked against German weather stations in northeast Greenland. The German ship Coburg was destroyed in July. Northland stopped the German ship Kehdingen and captured its German weather team. They also escaped an attack by a German submarine. Another German weather ship, Externsteine, was also stopped. The capture of sixty German weather personnel effectively ended Germany's weather observations from Greenland in October 1944.

Ships of the Greenland Patrol

Some ships in the Greenland Patrol were regular cutters that were temporarily assigned. Others were special ships, sometimes historic, designed for polar exploration. These were very good for the conditions the patrol faced. Larger cutters guided convoys of cargo ships and troopships between Sydney and the bigger Greenland ports. These ports served Narsarsuaq Air Base and the Ivittuut cryolite mine. Trawlers and tugs then distributed supplies from these ports to smaller Army bases in remote fjords that didn't have port facilities.

Three cutters in the Patrol (Bear, Bowdoin, and Northland) had sails. This was likely the last time sail-powered ships were used for wartime missions.

Greenland Patrol Memorial

The U.S. Coast Guard holds an annual memorial ceremony. They dedicate a wreath to remember the Greenland Patrol.

Greenland Patrol in Literature

Fiction

• Wilson, Sloan, Ice Brothers. 1979. (Arbor House). ISBN: 978-0877952329

Nonfiction

• United States Coast Guard Aviation History. n.d., 1941: The Coast Guard and the Greenland Operations
• Novak, Thaddeus D. and P.J. Capelotti. 1942. Life and Death on the Greenland Patrol, Reissued by the University Press of Florida (2005). ISBN: 978-0813029122. Novak kept a diary of his time as a Coast Guardsman in the North Atlantic.
• Tilley, John A. The Coast Guard and the Greenland Patrol
• Wilson, Sloan. 1976. What Shall We Wear to This Party?: The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, Twenty Years Before & After (Arbor House). ISBN: 978-0877951193. Part 2, “Ignorance is Death,” pp. 55–129, describes the author's entry into the U.S. Coast Guard as an ensign, assigned first to the USS Tampa. He was transferred to the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Nogak to become executive officer and later promoted to captain.