Shortland Island (once known as ''Alu'') is the largest island of the Shortland Islands

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Arch ...

, in the Western Province of the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capit ...

, at . The original name was a

Melanesia Melanesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It extends from Indonesia's New Guinea in the west to Fiji in the east, and includes the Arafura Sea. The region includes the four independent countries of Fiji, V ...

n word, while the current name was given to the island by

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

officer John Shortland in 1788. Shortland was the naval commander of a 1777–79 voyage by the

First Fleet The First Fleet was a fleet of 11 ships that brought the first European and African settlers to Australia. It was made up of two Royal Navy vessels, three store ships and six convict transports. On 13 May 1787 the fleet under the command o ...

to establish a

penal colony A penal colony or exile colony is a settlement used to exile prisoners and separate them from the general population by placing them in a remote location, often an island or distant colonial territory. Although the term can be used to refer to ...

Botany Bay Botany Bay ( Dharawal: ''Kamay''), an open oceanic embayment, is located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district. Its source is the confluence of the Georges River at Taren Point and the Cook ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

World War II

On March 30, 1942, war ships of the

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...

entered Shortland Harbour and landed two special naval landing force platoons and met no resistance. One platoon remained in the area to begin establishing Shortland Harbour Seaplane Base. The

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

considered invading the seaplane base in August 1943, but chose instead to bypass the Shortlands for

Bougainville Island Bougainville Island (Tok Pisin: ''Bogenvil'') is the main island of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, which is part of Papua New Guinea. It was previously the main landmass in the German Empire-associated North Solomon Islands, North Solo ...

and the Treasury Islands, leaving the Shortlands under Japanese control until the war's end. On January 8, 1944, an Allied force of two light cruisers and five destroyers bombarded the installations on Shortland Island. In March 1944, planes from the

USAAF The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

70th Fighter Squadron The 70th Fighter Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force squadron. The Squadron was constituted on 14 Dec 1940 as the 70th Pursuit Squadron (Interceptor). This squadron was activated on 1 Jan 1941 and patrolled the airspace around Fiji. ...

used reconnaissance photographs taken by the 17th Reconnaissance Squadron to strike the seaplane base, claiming eight float planes and an IJN destroyer. On 20 May 1944, received light damage from return fire when she and two other light cruisers, along with eight destroyers, bombarded shore installations on Shortland.

References

Islands of the Solomon Islands Western Province (Solomon Islands) {{SolomonIslands-geo-stub