To address an urgent Greenlandic request and to forestall similar British/Canadian plans while simultaneously avoiding the appearance of American intervention, a minimal force of 15 U.S. servicemen were given discharges and then hired by the Cryolite Company.
By February, the Navy decided to expand to an Advanced Operating Facility with an initial complement of 64 men, and the base was inaugurated on 1 April 1943.
They would pass close abeam (or visit) the small Eskimo village of Arsuk on the left, then enter Kungnat Bay where a number of vessels were usually anchored in the lee of Mt.
On the opposite side of the fjord were several support buildings for communications and area defense, including a coastal artillery site at a fort (locally known as Christianshavn).
Amphibian aircraft slips were available at Kungnat Bay and Grondal, and several other protected places were usable for seaplanes; however, the nearest air base was at BW-1 (Narsarsuaq) about 100 miles east-south-east.
The naval facility's purpose was to provide refueling and minor repairs, as well as to support convoy escort, coastal patrol, marine surveying, and construction in the area.
It generally served smaller Coast Guard vessels, which operated in Greenland under Navy command, as well as requisitioned freighters carrying the essential cryolite cargo.
A 1945 Navy report listed Grondal as having a camp for 16 officers and 130 enlisted men, a radio station and visual signal post, a 580-foot crib pier, two cruiser-type moorings, a 105,000 barrel tank farm, a 250-pontoon drydock, 2,000 sq.
Grondal operated under U.S. Navy command until the replacement Greenland Base Treaty of 1951 stipulated its transfer to the Danish government at the same time as a new U.S. Defense Area was established at Thule.