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 Glacier Bay, Alaska, USS Glacier was launched on 27 August 1954 at Ingalls Shipbuilding Corp., Pascagoula, Mississippi, sponsored by Mrs. Roscoe F. Good; and commissioned on 27 May 1955, CDR. E.H. Mayer USN, Commanding. Glacier is the only icebreaker built in the Glacier class, and was in U.S. Navy service for 11 years, and U.S. Coast Guard service for 21 years.[2]