USS Glacier (AGB-4)
USS Glacier (AGB-4) on August 9, 1960
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History | |
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United States | |
Name | USS Glacier |
Namesake | Glacier Bay, Alaska |
Builder | Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Mississippi |
Yard number | 580 |
Laid down | 3 August 1953 |
Launched | 27 August 1954 |
Sponsored by | Mrs. Roscoe F. Good |
Christened | 27 August 1954 |
Commissioned | 27 May 1955 |
Decommissioned | 1966 |
Stricken | 30 June 1966 |
Homeport | Boston, Massachusetts |
Identification |
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Motto | Follow Me! |
Nickname(s) | Mighty G (USN) |
Honors and awards | Navy Unit Commendation |
Fate | Transferred to the United States Coast Guard, 30 June 1966 |
United States | |
Name | USCGC Glacier |
Acquired | 30 June 1966 |
Decommissioned | 7 July 1987 |
Identification | Hull number= WAGB-4 |
Nickname(s) |
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Fate | Broken up in 2012 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Icebreaker |
Displacement | 8,449 long tons (8,585 t) full load |
Length | 309 ft 6 in (94.34 m) |
Beam | 74 ft (23 m) |
Draft | 29 ft (8.8 m) |
Propulsion |
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Speed | 17.6 knots (32.6 km/h; 20.3 mph) |
Range | 29,200 nautical miles (54,100 km; 33,600 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
Boats & landing craft carried | 4 lifeboats, 1 LCVP, and 1 Greenland Cruiser, later 1 Arctic Survey Boat |
Complement | 14 officers, 2 warrant officers, 225 enlisted |
Armament |
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Aircraft carried | 2 helicopters. Air detachment: 4 officers/pilots and 10 enlisted maintenance technicians/aircrew personnel |
Aviation facilities | Flight deck with retractable hangar, and overhead crane for aircraft engine service |
USS Glacier (AGB-4) (later USCGC Glacier (WAG/WAGB-4)) was a U.S. Navy, then U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker which served in the first through fifteenth Operation Deep Freeze expeditions. Glacier was the first icebreaker to make her way through the frozen Bellingshausen Sea, and most of the topography in the area is named for her crew members. When built, Glacier had the largest capacity single armature DC motors ever installed on a ship.[1] Glacier was capable of breaking ice up to 20 feet (6.1 m) thick, and of continuous breaking of 4-foot (1.2 m) thick ice at 3 knots (5.6 km/h; 3.5 mph).
Named for
Construction
Glacier was essentially an improved Wind-class icebreaker, larger and more powerful. Like them, her entire hull was designed for great strength. With a relatively short length in proportion to the great power developed, her bow had the characteristic sloping forefoot that enabled her to ride up on heavy ice and break it with the weight of the vessel. The stern was similarly shaped to facilitate breaking ice while backing down. The sides of the icebreaker were rounded, with marked tumblehome, and she had fore, aft and side heeling tanks that enabled the ship to break free from ice by heeling from side to side and changing trim fore to aft. Diesel electric machinery was chosen for its controllability and resistance to damage.[3][4]
Ship's history
Antarctic operations, 1955–1960
Glacier's shakedown cruise and maiden voyage were combined in "Operation Deep Freeze I", as
The ship returned to McMurdo Sound on 28 October 1956 for "Deep Freeze II", having made the earliest seasonal penetration in history. Glacier then delivered stores and supplies at
During "Deep Freeze III" and the IGY of 1957–1958, Glacier participated as a launching platform for "
In the summer of 1958, Glacier provided ice-escort for "Operation Sunec" for the resupply of North Polar radar and weather stations. By November 1958, however, she was again near the South Pole at McMurdo Sound, and after resupplying the base, steamed to Little America V to begin the station deactivation. Subsequently, while operating in the Terra Nova Bay on the coast of Victoria Land, she discovered two unknown islands and what was likely the largest emperor penguin rookery in the Antarctic, home of over 50,000 of the large birds. Glacier then sped to the assistance of the Belgian expedition ship RV Polarhav near Breid Bay, halfway around the Antarctic continent from the Ross Sea.
For "Operation Deep Freeze 5" in 1959–1960, Glacier sailed to McMurdo and then on an exploration of the
Antarctic operations, 1960–1966
The icebreaker departed Boston on 13 October 1960 on her sixth Antarctic voyage and reached Lyttelton, New Zealand on 21 November 1960 to unload cargo. Most of December 1960 was spent in breaking a 21-nautical-mile (39 km; 24 mi) channel through McMurdo Sound to open the way for supply ships. Glacier returned to Wellington, New Zealand for repairs, and to receive the U.S. Navy Unit Commendation for her Bellingshausen Sea expedition success. She then returned to the Amundsen and Bellingshausen Seas on another expedition. Oceanographic work continued until March 1961 when she sailed for Boston, arriving on 27 April 1961.
Underway again on 8 October 1961 for "Deep Freeze 62", she loaded cargo at Lyttelton, New Zealand, in early November 1961 and entered the Ross Sea ice pack on 13 November 1961, reaching McMurdo Sound by the end of the month. After repairs at Wellington, Glacier returned to McMurdo Station and to the site of Little America V for cartographic studies. She returned to New Zealand on 6 March 1962 and then put in at Boston on 5 May 1962 after steaming 36,000 nautical miles (67,000 km; 41,000 mi).
Glacier stood out of Boston on 17 September 1962 for "Deep Freeze 63", entering the pack ice on 6 November 1962 and reaching the edge of the bay ice of McMurdo Sound a week later. Glacier sustained minor damage in the thick ice and proceeded to Wellington for repairs. On 31 December 1962, Glacier cut through McMurdo Sound en route to McMurdo Station. She continued operations off McMurdo Station through 1965. Her diverse duties included keeping the channel open for supply ships. On 29 December 1965, US ships
Coast Guard operations, 1966–1987
Prior to her transfer to the U.S. Coast Guard, Glacier had her smaller armament removed. In September 1967, Glacier departed her new homeport of
Glacier visited the new
In 1968, the 5-inch guns were also removed. Only the
In 1975, Glacier was trapped in ice in Antarctica for six days, finally breaking free and escaping into the waters of Antarctic Sound on 10 March 1975. "She backed and rammed her way to the open sea with the use of only one of her two propellers," said the Coast Guard. Two of the three blades on her other screw were sheared off by "steel hard ice" on Wednesday 5 March, while en route to assist an Argentine icebreaker, ARA General San Martín, which had engine trouble while on a supply mission to a south polar scientific base. The Argentine ship made its way to freedom on its own.[6]
Decommissioning
Following 29 Antarctic and 10 Arctic deployments, Glacier was
Awards
- Navy Unit Commendation
- National Defense Service Medal
- Antarctic Service Medal
See also
References
- ISBN 0-354-00587-1
- ^ "USCG Glacier " (PDF). U.S. Coast Guard History Program. United States Coast Guard. Retrieved 17 December 2012.
- ^ "USCG Icebreakers". U.S. Coast Guard Cutter History. United States Coast Guard. Retrieved 12 December 2012.
- ^ hnsa.org USCG Boat ARCTIC SCOUT
- ^ NHHC, Dates in American Naval History
- ^ United Press International, "Icebreaker Gets Away From Ice", Playground Daily News, Fort Walton Beach, Florida, Wednesday 12 March 1975, Volume 30, Number 29, page 8B.
- ^ Contract of Sale
- ^ US senators move to save old ice breaker from scrap yard. JuneauEmpire.com, 17 April 2012. Retrieved 19 April 2012.
- This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
- U.S. Department of Homeland Security. United States Coast Guard Historian's Office. http://www.uscg.mil/history/default.asp
- U.S. Department of Homeland Security. United States Coast Guard. Medals and Awards Manual. COMDTINST M1650.25D. MAY 1980.
External links
- Photo gallery of USS Glacier at NavSource Naval History
- USS Glacier Association
- American Society of Mechanical Engineers – USS Glacier
- The Glacier Society
- Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. CA-341, "US Coast Guard Icebreaker Glacier, Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet, Benicia, Solano County, CA", 39 photos, 6 measured drawings, 14 data pages, 2 photo caption pages