Glacier (WAGB 4) - Naval Cruise Book

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can continent, stopping at Montevideo, Rio de Janeiro. Fortaleza, U.S. Naval Station Panama Canal Zone, and Puerto Vallarta, I conducted my most successful ten engine full- power trial ever attempted by the Coast Guard; attaining a full 1 70 rpm, for an awesome 1 7 + knots! Arriving home April 5, 1 madereadv for another unique assignment: the change of homeport from Long Beach, California to Portland. Mai — OREGON??? (That ' s not even near the ocean! Besides, I heard thev had mountains up there that go — BOOM!! Didn ' t I tell you the Coast Guard was al- wavs full of surprises? I wasn ' t too sure if I was going to like this!). Bidding goodby on May 19 to my home of almost 1 9 ears, and well done to ardent supporters: we sailed with anticipation of new scenerv, new waters to cruise in, making new friends, (and making peace with the mountains!). Ve arrived with much gusto and fanfare in Portland on Mav 14. 1985. There, in proper ceremonies welcoming us to the Thirteenth Coast Guard District, and celebrating my 30th birthdav, RADM Parker. Com- mander, Coast Guard District Thirteen, awarded us my second Coast Guard Unit Commendation award for Phase II of the demanding MMA and our refresher training accomplishments. Our anticipated feelings were well justified, as the city of Portland and the citizenrv of the surrounding communities took me and my fabulous crew to their hearts: and once more, we felt we belonged: we were home! Well, there you have it! Thirty years compressed into the proverbial — nutshell. Did I forget something important? 1 tried to keep it brief. Did I mix-up some facts ' ? 1 hope not; but you can see that ' s an awful lot to keep straight in my head. I hope I haven ' t stepped on anybody ' s toes and offended them by not having — total recall. If 1 have — I apologize, — and you can blame my writer, QMCM Nitzsche. the ole duffer to whom I ' ve narrated this! It was rather interesting — to work with someone who was in the Navy — before I was! Anyway, here are some statistics we compiled that you might find interesting; and if you want to know what ' s happened during this last exciting year, enjoy the rest of this book as it takes you from Portland — to the bottom of the world — and back! GLACIER TRIVIA GLACIERS 37 POLAR 1955 THROUGH 1985 Antarctica Deployments 27 Arctic Deployments 10 Longest Deep Freeze (days) 217 Longest Deep Freeze (miles) 40.103 Shortest Deep Freeze (days) 128 Shortest Deep Freeze (miles) 19.460 Average Deep Freeze Mileage 29,527 Average Arctic Mileage 9.013 Total Miles Sailed 887.227 Panama Canal Transits 19 Most Helo Hours 274.3 Most Passengers Carried (WAGB-4) 249 Most Cargo Handled (helos) 70 Tons Total Cargo Handled (WAGr3-4) 6,711 Tons Total Cargo Handled (helos) 4.804 Tons Total Passengers Carried (WAGB-4) 3.333 Total Passengers Carried (helos) 5,810 Total Helo Hours Flown 7,234 Diesel Fuel Consumed (gallons) 35,869,878 Lube Oil Consumed (gallons) 688.664 Aviation Fuel Consumed (gallons) 408.819 Bee! Consumed (pounds) 1,125,000 Pork Consumed (pounds) 300,000 Poultry Consumed (pounds) 345.000 Flour Used (pounds) 412.500 Coffee Consumed (pounds) 210,000 Break Used (loaves) 189.000 Eggs Used (dozens) 168.750 Milk Used (gallons) 222.500 ice Cream Consumed (gallons) 142,750 DEPLOYMENTS — DF63 DFIII DF80 81 DF81 35.5 times around the world 1 2 west 7 east DF61 DFIU DFIV GLACIER ' S COMMANDING OFFICERS 56-58 CDR Bernard J. Lawff, USN 58-59 CDR Joseph Houston, USN 69-61 CDR Phillip W. Porter, Jr., USN 61-63 CDR V.J. Vaugh, USN 63 5 CDR PR. Faughman 65-66 CAPT Opie L. Davson. USCG 66-68 CAPT Eugene E. McGory, USCG 68-70 CAPT Theodore L. Roberge, USCG 71-74 CAPT William E. West, Jr., USCG 74-76 CAPT Clarence R Gillett, USCG 76-78 CAPT John J. Dirschel, Jr., USCG 7 80 CAPT Bruce S. Little, USCG 80-82 CAPT James W Coste, Jr., USCG 82-83 CAPT Paul R. Taylor, USCG 84-86 CAPT William P. Hewel, USCG 23.2 times aro und the world 43.044 times around the workd in a VW 1.125 cows 1 .500 pigs 138,00 hens turkeys 70,000 31b cans not counting ship baked bread 675.00 omelettes we drowned a lot of cereal favorite flavor not noted EDITOR ' S NOTE: These statistics have been compiled from GLACIER ' S memory with an assist from the crew sifting through her onboard records; and are accurate to the best of her recollection and judgement; — and their computations. A thanks should also be noted here for the assistance from the Operational Archives, Naval Histry Division; and the historian at Coast Guard Headquarters: both located in Washington, D.C.

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After another summer availability, 1 departed on October 17 for my twenty-fifth Deep Freeze via Honolulu, New Cale- donia Brisbane, Sydney, and Wellington. DF 82 brought the same jobs, only it seemed like they were taking longer to get done. Maybe 1 was just getting tired and bored with the Erne routine. Working with the CGC POLAR SEA this year (1 guess they are here to stay - they ' re not really all that bad I suppose 1 wonder what it would have been ike to have had a sister ship to alternate trips with. Speaking of - wonder what the Coast Guard did with my cousins that transferred over from the Navy with me - 1 havener, them around in years?) - Where was I? Oh - nght! Work- ing with the SFA We opened and cleared the channel into McMurdo for the annual migration of supply ships, then 1 proceeded on the scientific second half of my voyage. Sev- eral outstanding fossil finds were made by Dr. Bill Zmmies- ter ' s scientific group on Seymour Island, which included the first discovery of land mammals from the late eocene period- the first discovery of a land reptile (lizard) from the cenozoic of Antarctica, and a large number of fossil bones of the giant penguins (up to 6-feet in height! !) Return home was again take via Valparaiso, Callao, and Puerto Vallerta; pulling into Long Beach on April 21, 1982. The usual dock- side availability was followed by an attempt to go through Refresher Training in San Diego. Boy, did 1 bomb out there The Navy rejected nine out of my ten main engines as not operationally safe, and sent me home; this after almost $800 thousand had been sunk into my machinery rehabilitation during the availability! Another $640 thousand was used for further corrective maintenance during the five week availabil- ity added following my expulsion from San Diego; and before sailing November 17th on DEEP FREEZE 83. One officer and two CPO ' s from Fleet Training Group, San Diego, rode me to Apia, Western Samoa; holding drills and training, as had been done in 1980. After stops at Suva, Fiji; and Wellington, I worked with POLAR STAR breaking into McMurdo. POLAR STAR departed on a circum-navigation of the Antarctic continent, and 1 returned to Wellington for mid-patrol maintenance. While enroute and taking 55 degree rolls, several of my crew were seriously injured and trans- ferred off at Lyttelton. Toxic fumes from spilled chemicals in the machine shop forced the evacuation of all personnel aft of forward officer ' s berthing for a period of 36 hours. We stayed at Lyttelton until January 8; allowing an auxiliary ship ' s service generator to be installed on my starboard boat deck as hardly any of my own generators were run- ning reliably. Making it back to the Antarctic continent, I managed to complete the second half of my patrol dunng which 1 accomplished the farthest southward penetration of the Bay of Wales into the Ross Ice Shelf on February 6 by reaching 78 -29 ' S 164 -irw. Once again, while enroute to Wellington and taking 55 — 60 degree rolls on February 28, several more crew members were again severly injured, necessitating transfer off at Wellington. Stops enroute home included Papeete, Tahiti; and Puerto Vallerta, concluding a rather wretched DF 83 for me and my people on Apnl 10, 1983. , „ Immediately upon my return, they took oft my crew, except for a skeleton resident 40-man contract inspection detail: and I entered my first Major Maintenance Avail- ability since I was built! It was to be divided into two phases, which would last over-all for eighteen long months. I couldn ' t believe it!! Finally! I was getting the at- tention my weary aching body had been crying for for years! As I said goodbye to those that were leaving me, I thought back on all those wonderful people that had served with me; that had unselfishly given their all. That had sweated, toiled, worried, improvised, strained, pick- ed me up when I was faltering, threatened, cussed, ca- joled and sweet talked me into continuing; - to all of them - 1 give a silent - THANK YOU ; - for my accomplish- ments, - my awards, - my history : - is -THEIR legacy! The major engineering plant renovation and equip- ment replacement during phase one was financed with al- most $ 1 million, and another $ 1 + million was allocated for the six month period of phase two. (Toward the end of 1983, 1 received my first Coast Guard Unit Commen- dation award for my DF 83 operations). In April 1984 I was re-manned with an almost 90% new crew, which under-took completing the 7,000 man day worklist along with commercial contractors while dockside at South- west Marine Shipyard in San Pedro, California. On Sep- tember 30, 1984, I officially came out of Charlie sta- tus- received my first Coast Guard Meritorious Unit Commendation award for Phase I of the MM A; and on October 7, with m major, minor, and cosmetic surgery being completely healed and found — Fit for Duty : proudly sailed for San Diego and Refresher Training. Officially passing RefTra for the first time in about 10 years, during which we earned coveted E ' s in deck seamanship, navigation and ship control; we loaded up scientific supplies at Broadway pier and departed San Diego October 31 for Deep Freeze 85 with a feeling of rejuvenation, optimism and excitement of again meeting the challenges of my 27th Deep Freeze. This was the first DF ever for which I failed to cross the Pacific, much to the disappointment of my new crew, and me too; as I had planned on showing them all my old friends in New Zealand and Australia This was also the first trip that I didn ' t have to break ice at McMurdo (Whooopeee!). Stopping at Callao and Valparaiso enroute south, we staged out of Puntas Arenas, Chile, foi the scientific parties and equipment. This trip I accomplished the deepest penetration of Pine Island Bay at 75 -l ' S 102 33AV. Upon out-chopping and dropping off the science par ties in Punta Arenas, we circum-navigated the South Ameri

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I 1 ■ kf i r — r ,s € riii ' llii-« «=• £■. .«i 1H i III n » a 1 ■ -- n i Moored at Terminal Island Lone Bea FROM SUNNY LONG BEACH DOWN THE MISTY COLUMBIA Glacier, with escort enroute Swan Island. Portland. Oregon.