Whiddy Island

Whiddy Island is an island close to the top of Bantry Bay, Ireland. It is approximately 5.6 km lengthy and 2.4 km wide. The topography comprises gently-rolling glacial until, with pretty fertile soil. As late as 1880 the island had a resident population of around 450, mainly engaged in fishing and small-scale farming, but today the population has reduced to about 20 people. Previously domestic to Whiddy Island Naval Air Station the island is referred to for its oil terminal facilities – and the related Whiddy Island Disaster.

Historically, the island turned into strategically important because it blanketed Bantry Bay and the bay's deepwater anchorage. As an end result, the British authorities built fortified batteries on the island in Napoleonic instances. This become prevent a repeat of the arrival of a French Armada pressure at Bantry Bay – as had befell in 1796. In the final months of World War I, Whiddy became the site of a US naval air station. These air crews patrolled delivery lanes round Fastnet Rock – near in which the RMS Lusitania have been sunk some years earlier. One of the bottom's planes crashed on 22 October 1918, killing one airman, Walford August Anderson.