Addu City
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Addu City އައްޑޫ |
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| City | |
 Addu City
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| Coordinates: 0°38′29″S 73°09′29″E / 00.6413°S 073.158°ECoordinates: 0°38′29″S 73°09′29″E / 00.6413°S 073.158°E | |
| Country | Maldives |
| Geographic atoll | Addu Atoll |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Abdulla Sodiq |
| Area | |
| • Total | 11.234 km2 (4.337 sq mi) |
| Dimensions | |
| • Length | 11.55 km (7.18 mi) |
| • Width | 14.29 km (8.88 mi) |
| Population (2013) | |
| • Total | 32,062 |
| • Density | 2,900/km2 (7,400/sq mi) |
| Time zone | MST (UTC+05:00) |
Addu City (local administrative code Seenu) is a city in Maldives that consists of the inhabited islands of the southernmost atoll of the archipelago. Addu City is the second-largest inhabitance in Maldives, in terms of population, and is one of the two inhabitance to get the status of "city" other than the capital city, Malé and Fuvamulah. Addu City has 6 districts. They are Hithadhoo, Maradhoo-Feydhoo, Maradhoo, Feydhoo, Hulhudhoo and Meedhoo. These divisions are naturally islands, but are well connected. Addu Atoll itself has islands in addition to the above, that are uninhabited. For information on these islands, see Addu Atoll.
In August 1941, the netlayer HMS Guardian landed Royal Navy construction crews on Addu Atoll in the Maldives Islands to begin work on a secret naval base for Britain’s Eastern Fleet. Though in public British leaders continued to point to Singapore as the lynchpin of the Far Eastern defenses, they had already grown concerned that the “Malay Barrier” of Malaya, Sumatra and Java could not be held in the event of a Japanese attack.
The British Eastern Fleet had left most of its base facilities in Singapore, including drydocks and repair sheds. In the event of Singapore’s loss, it was to fall back on Trincomalee on Ceylon’s eastern coast. But Admiral James Somerville, the fleet commander, found the port inadequate and doubted that it could be defended from determined attack. He wanted an alternative base somewhere in the middle of the Indian Ocean, which became known as “Port T.” Not openly stated, but understood, was that such a secret island base would also be secure from the prying eyes of Indian nationalists, all of whom were suspected of being in league with the Japanese during the paranoid days of late 1941.
Addu Atoll, also known as Seenu, is the southernmost island group in the Maldives. It consists of several large islands ringing a deep lagoon. There are several channels leading into the lagoon, with the best of these at the southern end of the atoll. The Royal Navy selected the southernmost island, Gan (pronounced "Yahn") for their airfield and began construction of three crushed-coral airstrips for the Fleet Air Arm. This was turned over to the Royal Air Force in 1957 and became “RAF Station Gan,” an airfield that would be used intermittently until 1971. The FAA airfield on Gan in theory could handle all aircraft in the British inventory, but it had short runways and larger bombers often crashed on landing.
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