Operation Nanook (1946)

From 22 July to 5 August 1946, all activities in Operation Nanook centered on Thule; Norton Sound remained at anchor there, in North Star Bay, servicing her two PBM's.

Meanwhile, Whitewood and Atule operated from North Star Bay as they conducted exercises and tests in the Smith Sound-Kane Basin area.

On 5 August 1946, Norton Sound and Whitewood headed for Dundas Harbour, Nunavut and Devon Island, in order to attempt air and surface operations there.

It was built from wooden barracks on the Pittufik, a Greenlandish word for "the place where we tie the dogs", in a large glacier valley about two miles from the trade station North Star Bay, which the Polar explorer Knud Rasmussen built.

The station was kept in operation until 1951 when Thule Air Base was built in the valley; the weather station was then moved to the Greenlandish settlement at North Star Bay, and renamed "Dundas", until the population was moved to Qaanaaq further north in 1953.