“In a quiet inlet of the Bering Sea, a YP Boat gets a coat of paint and a sub ties up for fuel and provisions. The short Alaskan day is ending and lights may be seen in the barracks until total darkness requires a blackout.”
Painting, Oil on Board; by William F. Draper; 1942; Framed Dimensions 20H X 24W NHHC Accession #: 88-189-N
While the naval aspect of the Aleutians Campaign ended strong for the US, with RADM Charlie McMorris’ victory off the Komandorski Islands in March 1943 and the swansong of Operation Cottage five months later, it started rough, at the raid on Dutch Harbor in June 1942, and was a long uphill slog that, considering Nimitz’s big fleet problems in Guadalcanal, 5,000 miles on the other side of the Pacific, was always a backwater.
It was a war of the Sugar Boats, the Yippies, PT boats, Canadian armed merchant cruisers, and muddy PBYs.