Bluie West 7

With the American 'occupation' of the Cryolite mining town of Ivigut (Ivittuut) the Coast Guard also began to establish a port facility at the nearby town of Gronnedal (now Kangilinnguit) known to the Americans as Grondale ('groan dale') in 1940. It was formally established as a base on 1st April 1943 under the code name Bluie West 7. Some 500 American servicemen were based here to protect upto 200 miners. The Allies had problems with the pronunciation of Greenlandic names so adopted the use of Bluie, (the codeword for Greenland) and either East or West to described its position in relationship to Cape Farewell, the most southernly part of Greenland.
The port and anchorage was used in transatlantic convoys and submarine hunting during WW2 and continued to be used during the Cold War and is still maintained by the Danish Navy.

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Source

• Text: Sharky Ward
• Photos: Anthony (Sharky) Ward (1, 2, 3), Jan Kronsell, via Wikimedia Commons (4)