Wind-class icebreaker

Class overview
BuildersWestern Pipe and Steel Company (WPS), San Pedro, California
Operators
Preceded byApalachee class
Succeeded byOwasco class
Built
In commission1944–1989
Completed8
Scrapped8
General characteristics
TypeIcebreaker
Displacement6,500 short tons (5,900 metric tons) (full load)
Length269 ft (82 m)
Beam63 ft 6 in (19.35 m)
Draft25 ft 9 in (7.85 m)
Installed powerSix Fairbanks-Morse 10-cylinder diesel engines
Propulsion
Speed13.4 knots (24.8 km/h; 15.4 mph) (maximum)
Range32,485 mi (52,280 km) at 11.6 knots (21.5 km/h; 13.3 mph)
Complement219 officers and men
Armament
Aircraft carried1 Grumman J2F Duck seaplane (as built)
Aviation facilitiesAft turret replaced by retractable hangar on aft helicopter deck after WW2

The Wind-class icebreakers were a line of diesel electric-powered icebreakers in service with the United States Navy, United States Coast Guard, Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Coast Guard and Soviet Navy from 1944 through the late 1970s. They were very effective ships: all except Eastwind served at least thirty years, and Northwind served in the USCG continuously for forty-four years. Considered the most technologically advanced icebreakers in the world when first built, the Wind-class icebreakers were also heavily armed; the first operator of the class was the United States Coast Guard, which used the vessels for much-needed coastal patrol off Greenland during World War II. Three of the vessels of the class, Westwind, Southwind, and the first Northwind all went on to serve temporarily for the Soviet Union under the Lend-Lease program, while two others were built for the United States Navy and another was built for the Royal Canadian Navy; all eight vessels were eventually transferred to the United States Coast Guard and the Canadian Coast Guard.[1][2][3]

The Wind-class ships were the first class of true icebreakers built by the United States. Gibbs & Cox of New York provided the designs with input from the Coast Guard's Naval Engineering Division. The final design was heavily influenced by studies conducted by then LCDR Edward Thiele, USCG (later RADM, and Engineer in Chief of the U.S. Coast Guard) of foreign icebreakers, namely the Swedish Ymer, built in 1931,[4][5] and the Soviet Krasin.[1]

Seven ships of the class were built in the United States, and one modified version, HMCS Labrador, was built in Canada.[1][2][3][6][7]


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  1. ^ a b c U.S. Department of Homeland Security. U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office. http://www.uscg.mil/history/webcutters/Icebreakers.asp Archived 1 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ a b Charles D. "Doug" Maginley. The Canadian Coast Guard 1962-2002. Vanwell Publishing LTD. 2003. ISBN 1-55125-092-6.
  3. ^ a b My Royal Canadian Navy. http://myrcn.ca/18labrador/labrador.html Archived 24 February 2005 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ "The History of Nordic Icebreaking - Sjofartsverket". Archived from the original on 23 May 2012. Retrieved 18 April 2012.
  5. ^ "Oceania / Swedish Auxiliary Ships". Archived from the original on 8 May 2014. Retrieved 18 April 2012.
  6. ^ Icebreakers in the North. University of Calgary. https://www.ucalgary.ca/arcticexpedition/icebreakers/hmcs-labrador Archived 5 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ CANADA AVIATION MUSEUM AIRCRAFT. PIASECKI (VERTOL) HUP-3 (RETRIEVER). ROYAL CANADIAN NAVY (RCN). http://www.aviation.technomuses.ca/assets/pdf/e_PiaseckiHUP-3.pdf Archived 10 January 2011 at the Wayback Machine