Project Hula was the secret U.S. program that transferred ships and trained Soviet crews for war against Japan.
Based at Cold Bay in Alaska, Project Hula operated during the spring and summer of 1945. The United States transferred naval vessels to the Soviet Union and trained Soviet personnel to operate them. The plan anticipated Soviet operations against Japanese forces in Northeast Asia, including attacks around Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands.
The program transferred 149 ships and trained about 12,000 Soviet personnel. Its secrecy reflected the sensitive nature of U.S.–Soviet cooperation before the Soviet Union formally entered the war against Japan. The first training and transfers began before the Soviet declaration of war on August 8.
Japan surrendered before the entire planned transfer program could be completed, but some transferred vessels participated in the Soviet offensive. Project Hula is distinct from Project Manhattan, the American atomic-bomb program, and from Operation Downfall, the planned invasion of Japan that was never carried out.