Glacier (WAGB 4) - Naval Cruise Book

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Only her bow visible, the Coast Guard icebreaker EASTW1ND waits tor the Navy ' s new giant icebreaker GLAQER to dispose oi her cargo at McMurdo Sound unloading point before moving in to off-load. Both icebreakers were shuttling between the cargo ship GREEW1LLE 1CT0RY anchored out in open waters and the unloading area. Cargo was hauled from this point by weasels and caterpillars to the Williams Air Operation Facility being built at Hut Point Ross Island. Part of this cargo was to be stockpiled at Hut Point for delivery to the Pole Station to be erected at geograp hical South Pole in 1957. earlier by Rear Admiral Byrd. who was onboard to supervise the construction of the new .Antarctic polar station, (how proud I was to earn. - him on this mission). Later. I continued 400 miles west to break ice into an offloading site for the establishment of the Naval .Air Facility at McMurdo Sound. On March 5. I ran aground on an uncharted shoal: and had to use my back full for 40 minutes before I managed to refloat myself. How embarassing: my first boo-boo! Anyway, I completed a voyage further westward around to the Wed- dell Sea. where I surveyed Vmcennes Bay in Wilkes Land. and sent the first landing party in history ashore on the Princess Martha and Princess Astrid coasts. Having almost completed rircum-navigating the continent by sailing from 1 60 W, westward to 1 8 -30 W, I returned to my homeport of Boston on 6 May, thus ending a rather successful 212 dav. 32.600 mile first vovage. The following year 1 was asked again to spear-head Deep Freeze II (1956-57). during which I made the earliest sea- sonal penetration in history through the almost perpetual ice belt which encircles the .Antarctic continent; taking just nine days to break through 800 miles of almost solid ice- pack arming at McMurdo Sound on October 28. 1956. .After completing supply deliveries at McMurdo and Little .America Y. I met and lead seven Navy cargo ships from New Zealand through the ice-pack to the two .Antarctic bases. During 12 and 13 November. 1 plotted by radar the largest iceberg yet on record 70 miles long by 30 miles wide. Later in January 1957. 1 escorted two more cargo ships into Vmcennes Bay off the coast of Wilkes Land located in the Indian Ocean side of .Antarctica, where the last of the seven .American bases for the International Geophysical Year (IGY) was to be contructed. Some of my crew worked along with Navy Seabees to help build the scientific base

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USCGC GLACIER HISTORY! THE BEGIN1NG Hello there! I ' m the United States Coast Guard Cutter GLACIER (WAGB-4), and I am delighted that you have pur- chased this book as it gives me a chance to tell you my side of the story. The 1986 cruise book commitee was hon- est enough to admit that no-one knew my history better than 1; so they agreed to let me narrate my exciting expe- riences. Oh, I ' m really tickled. Where should I start? Going back to when I was conceived would be the most logical place to begin. Follow me, - by the way - that became my proud motto through the years -and still is! Follow Me — and I will lead you through my thirty years of accomplish- ments. I had my keel laid on August 3, 1953, at the Ingalls Shipbuilding Company at Pascagoula, Mississippi; got my bottom christened on August 27, 1954, and was commissi- oned into the U.S. Navy as the USS GLACIER (AGB-4) on Mav 27, 1955. I ' m proud to say that I was the Navy ' s most modern and largest icebreaker, and contained the largest diesel electric plant afloat in the free world at that time. I was named after Alaska ' s Glacier Bay, and told I was the fourth Navy ship to bear that name. lam 310-feet long, have a 74-foot bust, and need a pool of water at least 30-feet deep to swim in. I can carry more than 20 officers and 300 enlisted, and 20 or more scientists. My ten 1 2-cyl- inder diesel engines are capable of generating 21,000 horse-power and drive my heavily-armored bow up onto and through the ice. To loosen gripping ice, my special build-in heelingsystem can inducean artificial ten-degree roll by shifting 69,000 gallons of fuel from side to side in 72 seconds flat. My twin 17 ' 2-foot diameter propellers can push my buxom 8,900-tons around the world non- stop with the 720,000 gallons of fuel I can carry. ? - - i fc ;- ' . THE FIRST DECADE - THE DECADE OF CHALLENGE Operation Deep Freeze I (1955-56) was my combination shake-down cruise and maiden voyage; in support of the United States participation in the first International Geophys- ical Year scientific program in the Antarctica, the head of which was Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd, USN-Ret. After tow- ing a self-propelled gasoline barge (YOG) from New Jersey all the way to Port Lyttelton, New Zealand, one of the long- est tows recorded by an icebreaker, (my very first record), 1 made my first encounter with Antarctic ice in December 1955, (Whew, it was cold stuff!). After breaking through the Ross Ice Pack, I carved out an ice harbor in Kainan Bay to permit the offloading of cargo ships at the site of the Little America V scientific station on the Ross Ice Shelf. This was the same area of previous Little America stations established

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Let ' s see, what next? It ' s been a long time since anyone asked me to try and recollect. Oh yes! During Deep Freeze III, the IGY of 1957-58, I played icebreaker aircraft carrier, acting as a launching platform for extensive rockoon tests under the direction of Dr. James Van Allen, during which balloon-lifted rockets gained information useful to the Explorer satellite program. While assisting with these tests, 1 proceeded with my normal icebreaking, escorting ships and breaking channel into Little America, and conducting ocean- graphic studies in the Ross Sea Upon completion of my tour , I had broken out a record 26 million tons of ice. In December 1957, I received my third Commanding Officer at Little America in what is believed to have been the southern- most change of command afloat in the history of the U.S. Navy. After returning home, the summer of 1958, (I had been nick-named — Mighty G — by this time), found me venturing to the opposite end of the earth to participate in Operation SUNEC; the resupply of the North Polar radar and weather stations. While returning from Thule AFB Greenland, I rammed another uncharted shoal (Ouchee!), necessitating drydocking and overhaul of my bottom upon return to Bos- ton; having made my second boo-boo in three years. Oh well, — pobody ' s nerfect, whyht? Anyway, Deep Freeze IV (1958-59), which marked the end of the IGY programs, found me once agin the first ship penetrating the ice-pack. Following the resupply of McMurdo Station, I proceeded to Little America V to begin the de-acti- vation of that station. Then, while operating in the Terra Nova Bay area off the coast of Victoria Land, I conducted oceanographic studies; discovering two previously uncharted islands, and possibly the largest Emperor penguin rookery in the Antarctic! The rookery was home for more than 50,000 of these large penguins. (PHEW!! Know what I mean??) I discovered the disappearance of over 1,000 square miles of the Lady Newness Ice Shelf since it was first charted in 1912. I also became stranded for the first time for four days in the ice of Terra Nova Bay with a 10 degree list, a blade missing from each propeller, other blades damaged, and my starboard shaft bearing burned out; before finally being able to break free and head for Wellington, New Zealand, and 21 days of drydocking. Upon returning to the Ross Sea area, an unexpected mission came up which cut short my exploring curriculum for the season. That was the assistance I gave the Belgian Expedition ship POLARHAV near Breid Bay, halfway around the Antarctic continent from me. Upon completion of this goodwill mission, I headed for South America and the long trip home. With the United States con- tinuing its scientific programs in the Antarctic, I made Deep Freeze 1960 and the following annual Antarctic Operations; which became identified from then on by fiscal year, rather than by Roman numerals. They told me that during the IGY Years I - IV, U.S. participation had average 44 aircraft, 10 ships, and 4200 personnel each year. I feel pretty good about having been a part of that important era of Antarctic history. Let ' s see, to get back to Deep Freeze 60 (1959-60), that was the Navy ' s fifth Antarctic support operation. Once again I went into McMurdo, and followed that by the first explora- tion and penetration of the Bellingshausen Sea area I recorded depth soundings and collected oceanographic and cartographic data in the vicinity of Thurston Peninsula, and along the ice shelf of the Eights Coast; as well as setting up an automatic weather station on Noville Peninsula In late February, I was called uppon to assist the Argentine ice- breaker GENERAL SAN MARTIN and the Danish ship KISTA DAN. Both ships were beset in ice in the vicinity of Marguer- ite Bay along the Palmer Peninsula The GENERAL SAN MARTIN managed to free herself, but it was necessary for me to free the KISTA DAN from the ice trap and escort her to open water, — my first rescue mission! On my way home I stopped at Buenos Aires, Argentina and Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. Here my crew learned that a major flood had occurred in northeastern Brazil, so we departed Rio and proceeded to the distressed area to assist the flood victims. We spent two weeks in the Fortaleza and Pamaiba, Brazil area; using my helicopters and two LCVP ' s to aid in the flood relief program; then we proceeded homeward arriving in Boston April 20. That was an exciting Deep Freeze - I thought.