Kruzof Island is an island in the Alexander Archipelago

Alexander Archipelago

The Alexander Archipelago is a long archipelago, or group of islands, of North America off the southeastern coast of Alaska. It contains about 1,100 islands, which are the tops of the submerged coastal mountains that rise steeply from the Pacific Ocean. Deep channels and fjords separate the...

 in southeastern Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

 at 57°10′14"N 135°40′29"W. It is about 16 km (9.9 mi) west of Sitka, and is part of the City and Borough of Sitka. It was named in 1805 by Captain U.T. Lisianski

Yuri Lisyansky

Yuri Fyodorovich Lisyansky was an officer in the Imperial Russian Navy and explorer of Ukrainian origin....

 as Crooze Island, after a Russian

Imperial Russian Navy

The Imperial Russian Navy refers to the Tsarist fleets prior to the February Revolution.-First Romanovs:Under Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich, construction of the first three-masted ship, actually built within Russia, was completed in 1636. It was built in Balakhna by Danish shipbuilders from Holstein...

 Admiral. In 1849, Captain Tebenkov

Mikhail Tebenkov

Mikhail Dmitriyevich Tebenkov, spelt Tebenkof in the United States , was a Russian hydrographer and vice admiral of the Imperial Russian Navy...

 recorded the Tlingit name for the island as being Tlikh.

Naming history

Before being named by Lisianski, it was called San Jacinto after Mt Edgecumbe was named Montaña de San Jacinto by Don Juan de la Bodega y Quadra

Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra

Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra was a Spanish naval officer born in Lima, Peru. Assigned to the Pacific coast Spanish Naval Department base at San Blas, in the Viceroyalty of New Spain , this navigator explored the Northwest Coast of North America as far north as present day Alaska.Juan...

 in 1775. La Perousé

Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse

Jean François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse was a French Navy officer and explorer whose expedition vanished in Oceania.-Early career:...

 referred to that name by calling the island St. Hyacinthe. Captain Nathaniel Portlock named the island Pitt Island in 1787. Early Russian traders called it Sitka Island. In 1849, Constantin Grewingk called the island Edgecumbe.

Geography

The island is 37 km (23 mi) long and 13 km (8.1 mi) wide with a land area of 167.47 sq mi (433.7 km²), making it the 41st largest island in the United States. The island is formed in part by Mount Edgecumbe

Mount Edgecumbe (Alaska)

Mount Edgecumbe is the current name of a dormant volcano located at the southern end of Kruzof Island, Alaska, of which it is the highest point. In the Tlingit language it is called L’ux. Mt...

, a small dormant stratovolcano and several cones and collapsed cones that make up its volcanic field.

Human importance

It does not have a permanent resident population. There is a maintained trail leading from Fred's Creek cabin, a USFS cabin on the inside coast, to the summit of Mt. Edgecumbe, as well as several trails across the island.

Kalinin Bay, on the northern shore of the island, provided the name for the World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 warship USS Kalinin Bay.