Cold Bay (Aleut: Udaamagax,;[5] Sugpiaq: Pualu[6]) is a city in Aleutians East Borough, Alaska, United States.

Cold Bay's significance to American history began with the Japanese invasion of the Aleutians in World War II.

It (along with Otter Point) served as a base for the 11th Air Force to provide protection to the only deep water port in the Aleutians at the time, Dutch Harbor.

This protection was necessary when during Yamamoto's Midway Campaign, a diversionary attack was launched against Dutch Harbor.

In later decades, control of the airfield passed to civil authorities, who maintained it as a useful refueling and emergency landing location for great circle flights from the west coast of the United States to East Asia.

During the 1980s, deregulation of the airline industry under President Ronald Reagan caused many of the compelling interests[who?]

Today, Cold Bay is still occasionally used for emergency or precautionary landings of commercial flights, and is also a hub for traffic from Anchorage and Seattle to the small communities around it.

Cold Bay is considered the cloudiest place in the United States, with an average of 304 days of heavy overcast (covering over 3/4 of the sky).

Cold Bay is a highly transient community, lacking the generational attachment characteristic of the surrounding native villages.

Residents, drawn to the area largely by the Wildlife Refuge, Weather Service, or air traffic jobs, rarely stay more than a year in Cold Bay.

The city's only church is Cold Bay Community Chapel, a member of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Within the main building there is the Bearfoot Inn Bar which is open 3 to 6 days a week depending on the season.

A major community event is the Silver Salmon Derby, a fishing contest that takes place every fall.

The Derby concludes with a banquet and door prize giveaway at the town community hall.

[citation needed] The loss of the school caused an exodus of the remaining school-aged children until, by 2015, only one was left.

[citation needed] The school building was used to house passengers of flights which made emergency landings in Cold Bay.

[34] Cold Bay has approximately 40 miles (64 km) of gravel roads, and a state-owned paved highway.