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USCGC ''Eastwind'' (WAGB-279) was a ''Wind''-class
icebreaker An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters, and provide safe waterways for other boats and ships. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller ...
that was built for the
United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, m ...
. Completed in time to see action in World War II, she continued in USCG service under the same name until decommissioned in 1968.


Construction

''Eastwind'' was the second of five Wind-class of icebreakers built for the United States Coast Guard. Her keel was laid down on 23 June 1942 at
Western Pipe and Steel Company The Western Pipe and Steel Company (WPS) was an American manufacturing company that is best remembered today for its construction of ships for the Maritime Commission in World War II. It also built ships for the U.S. Shipping Board in World W ...
shipyards in San Pedro. She was launched on 6 February 1943 and commissioned on 3 June 1944.Silverstone, Paul H.(1965): ''U.S. Warships of World War II''. Doubleday and Company, pg. 378 Her hull was of unprecedented strength and structural integrity, with a relatively short length in proportion to the great power developed, a cut away forefoot, rounded bottom, and fore, aft and side heeling tanks. Diesel electric machinery was chosen for its controllability and resistance to damage. ''Eastwind'', along with the other Wind-class icebreakers, was heavily armed for an icebreaker because her design was crafted during World War II. Her main battery consisted of two twin-mount 5 in (130 mm) deck guns. Her anti-aircraft weaponry consisted of three quad-mounted Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft autocannons and six Oerlikon 20 mm autocannons. She also carried six K-gun depth charge projectors and a
Hedgehog A hedgehog is a spiny mammal of the subfamily Erinaceinae, in the eulipotyphlan family Erinaceidae. There are seventeen species of hedgehog in five genera found throughout parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and in New Zealand by introductio ...
as anti-submarine weapons. After the war her aft 5” mount was replaced by a helicopter deck, and by 1951 her forward mount had also been removed.


History

''Eastwind'' ferried 200 US army troops which captured the last German weather station in
Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland ...
, ''Edelweiss II'', on 4 October 1944. She also seized the German trawler ''Externsteine'', which was resupplying the base. ''Externsteine'' was later commissioned in the US Coast Guard as USCGC ''Eastbreeze'' and later commissioned as the US Navy ship . On 19 January 1949 Eastwind, underway from Boston, Massachusetts to Baltimore, Maryland was struck starboard amidships by the tanker S.S. Gulfstream sailing to the Persian Gulf from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania off of Cape May, New Jersey and severely damaged. The collision and resultant fire killed 13 crewmen. USCGC Gentian (WLB-290) and USCGC Sassafras (WLB-401) assisted Eastwind in firefighting and rescue operations. In 1952, during an Arctic Cruise, for the first time were launched stratospheric balloons from the deck of the ship. The balloon carried scientific instruments to perform cosmic ray studies and rockets to be fired once in the stratosphere (Rockoons). Captain Oliver A. Peterson, Commanding. In 1955 and 1956 she participated in Antarctic exploration activities as part of Task Force 43 Of Operation Deep Freeze. Crossing the Antarctic Circle on December 25, 1955, Captain Oliver A. Peterson, Commanding. In October 1960, as part of
Operation Deep Freeze Operation Deep Freeze (OpDFrz or ODF) is codename for a series of United States missions to Antarctica, beginning with "Operation Deep Freeze I" in 1955–56, followed by "Operation Deep Freeze II", "Operation Deep Freeze III", and so on. (There ...
, she departed Boston, passed through the Panama Canal, crossed the Pacific, visited New Zealand and McMurdo Sound. Leaving Antarctica, she traveled the Indian Ocean, came through the Suez Canal, crossed the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean to return home in May 1961. This tour made the Eastwind the first cutter ever to circumnavigate the globe.U.S. Coast Guard Firsts, Lasts and/or Record Setting Achievements
/ref> Two mountains in Antarctica,
Mount Schmidtman Mount Schmidtman () is a peak to the north of Mount Naab at the northeast end of Eastwind Ridge, Convoy Range. Named in association with Eastwind Ridge after Captain R.D. Schmidtman, USCG, commander of the icebreaker USCGC Eastwind in the Ross ...
and
Mount Naab Mount Naab () is a mountain in Antarctica, to the south of Mount Schmidtman, 1,710 m, which surmounts the east part of Eastwind Ridge in the Convoy Range. It was mapped by United States Geological Survey (USGS) from ground surveys and Navy ...
, were named after her captains during this period: Captain R.D. Schmidtman, USCG commanded the vessel in 1960, and Captain Joseph Naab, Jr., USCG commanded her during 1961 and 1962. In 1966 she left Boston MA in September for Operation Deep Freeze '67' returned April 1967. Captain William Benkert, Commanding. The winter of 1968, CAPT C. William Bailey, Commanding, Eastwind entered the Great Lakes to aid with icebreaking duties, during a particularly severe ice winter. Her deep polar draft became problematic in the shallow Great Lakes, which required carrying minimal fuel (to lessen draft) and frequent refueling. Eastwind returned to Boston Spring 1968, and replenished for Arctic East Summer deployment. In early June 1968, Eastwind departed Boston and participated in Arctic East Summer 1968, CAPT C. William Bailey, Commanding. After opening the shipping route to Thule AFB on July 4, 1968, Eastwind continued oceanographic studies in the Greenland Sea and Disko Island regions. Eastwind sailed into Sondestrom Fjord to measure calving glacier outfalls. Later in Disko Bay (Bugt) a propeller shaft bearing started to separate. The shaft was clamped and the ship limped back to Boston mid-Summer 1968, on one propeller shaft, for drydock repairs in East Boston. This negated a planned liberty port call in Edinburgh, Scotland. Eastwind departed Boston 3 weeks later and returned to salvage the remaining Arctic-East summer navigation season in the Greenland Sea. Returning to Boston in early November, Eastwind departed Boston mid-November 1968 and traveled to the USCG Yard at Curtis Bay, Baltimore. She was Decommissioned early Dec 1968, and remained mothballed at Curtis Bay with a Caretaker Crew, until being sold for scrap. In 1972 she was sold for scrap and last seen at the breaking yards in New Jersey in 1976 or 1977.


Notes


References

* *http://Eastwind1952.com *http://stratocat.com.ar/bases/20e.htm Historical record of balloons launched from the USCGC ''Eastwind''. *US Department of Homeland Security. United States Coast Guard Historian's Office.http://www.uscg.mil/history/ ----


External links


1956 photo from archives of ''Life'' Magazine



U.S. Coast Guard Cutter History, ''Eastwind''

The Eastwind Association
* United States Coast Guard, Historian's Office. United States Coast Guard. U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Accessed 20 DEC 2021. {{DEFAULTSORT:Eastwind Wind-class icebreakers 1944 ships Ships built in Los Angeles