USCGC Northwind (WAG/WAGB-282) was a , the second United States Coast Guard Cutter of her class to bear the name. She was built to replace which was in Soviet lend-lease service.
During her career, Northwind conducted extensive oceanography, hydrography and cartography studies, as well as icebreaking, during Operation Nanook and Operation Highjump. Northwind was the last Wind-class icebreaker when she was decommissioned in Wilmington, North Carolina on 20 January 1989 after 44 years of service.
Construction
Northwind was one of the icebreakers designed by Lieutenant Commander Edward Thiele of the United States Coast Guard and Gibbs & Cox of New York, who modeled them after plans for European icebreakers he obtained before the start of World War II. She was the fifth of seven completed ships of the of icebreakers operated by the United States Coast Guard. She was laid down on 20 July 1944 at Western Pipe and Steel Company shipyards in San Pedro, California, launched on 25 February 1945 and commissioned on 28 July 1945. Rear Admiral Ralph W. Dempwolf, Commander, 9th Coast Guard District presided over the ceremony with his wife, Mrs. Mabelle C. Dempwolf, serving as the sponsor.
Wind-class icebreakers had hulls 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.
Northwind, along with the other Wind-class icebreakers, was heavily armed for an icebreaker due to her design being crafted during World War II. Her main battery consisted of two twin-mounted /38 caliber deck guns. Her anti-aircraft weaponry consisted of three quad-mounted Bofors 40 mm autocannons and six Oerlikon 20 mm autocannons. She also carried six K-gun depth charge projectors and a Hedgehog as anti-submarine weapons. After the war her aft 5-inch mount was replaced by a helicopter deck, sometime after 1964 the forward mount was removed.
Service history
1940s
Operation Nanook
Northwinds first major mission was Operation Nanook from 22 July–5 August 1946. The objective of Operation Nanook was to assist in a Danish-American project to establish a radio and weather station at Thule in North Star Bay, Greenland. This area later became Thule Air Force Base.
During July through September 1946 the first helicopter deployment from a Coast Guard icebreaker occurred an HNS-1 Sikorsky R-4 from Northwind off the Greenland coast. This deployment; in support of the International Ice Patrol, included the first helicopter landings at Thule, Greenland; Crozier Island and Winter Harbor, Melville Island. On 27 July 1946, Northwind was grounded on an uncharted pinnacle while entering Dundas Harbour, Devon Island, Nunavut but was refloated ten hours later without serious damage.
Operation Highjump
From December 1946 through January 1947 Northwind participated in Operation Highjump as part of Central Group (Task Group 68), under the command of Captain Charles W. Thomas, with one of the operation's primary missions being to establish the research base Little America IV. She was the only United States Coast Guard vessel to participate in the naval exercise and became the first U.S. Coast Guard cutter to cross the Antarctic Circle. She also completed the first major rescue missions of a submarine beset in ice when she twice broke out the damaged . Northwind also rescued , , and which were beset and damaged in the ice floe at the Antarctic Circle. The first helicopter flight to base Little America IV from Northwind took place on 15 January 1947. Her crew played the first baseball game, the first double header (all without lights), and the first golf tournament in Antarctica.
First Bering Sea patrol
During May to August 1948 Northwind conducted her first Bering Sea Patrol, the first in eight years, as the patrol had been suspended during World War II. She functioned as a "floating court" for a United States federal judge and staff, while U.S. Coast Guard medical personnel and United States Public Health Service officers on board provided medical and dental aid to hundreds of isolated Aleutian villagers. She also delivered and dispatched the U.S. Mail for remote Arctic outposts, lightships and lighthouses. She performed law enforcement, search and rescue, ice-escort for other ships and weather observation and reporting. Other duties of the Bering Sea Patrol were fishery monitoring, wildlife study,U.S. Department of Homeland Security. United States Coast Guard Historian's Office. http://www.uscg.mil/history/webcutters/Northland_1927.pdf . Retrieved 2012-01-04. oceanographic and hydrographic research, re-supplying remote units, ethnological studies of the Aleuts, laying cables, and environmentally related missions. Northwind was a research platform for geophysical studies performed by scientists and students from universities in the Pacific Northwest, and California. In 1949 Northwind returned to the Arctic and in subsequent years served on several U.S. Navy expeditions to the region,U.S. Department of Homeland Security. United States Coast Guard Historian's Office. http://www.uscg.mil/history/uscghist/USCGPolarIceOpsChron.pdf Retrieved 2012-01-12.
1950s
In 1952 Northwind broke the polar icebreaking record for miles sailed north of the Arctic Circle in one season: .USCGC Northwind "Welcome Aboard" pamphlet, CG-RPA-775. Prepared 1975 by U.S.C.G. Fifth District Reserve Public Affairs Division, Alexandria, VA 22314. She was the first ship to break through into Thule, Greenland, as early as 28 May 1952 although Thule is normally ice-locked until summer. During 1953 Northwind conducted a Bering Sea Patrol. During this patrol Northwind freed USS LST-1048 which was beset in the Beaufort Sea near Barter Island Alaska. USS LST-1048 was on a supply mission to support Distant Early Warning Line construction and was freed by ice-demolition.
From 12 July to 29 September 1954 Northwind participated in the Canadian-U.S. Beaufort Sea Expedition. The mission was to perform an oceanographic and hydrographic surveys of the waters surrounding Banks Island. She was accompanied by and . This cruise was the first where vessels transited McClure Strait and circumnavigated Banks Island. The transit was completed on 4 September 1954.
From February through April 1955 Northwind sailed on a Bering Sea scientific expedition in support of the U.S. Naval Hydrographic Office.Oceanic Observations of the Pacific. Page 393. Scripps Institute of Oceanography. 1962. Joseph L. Reid, editor. Google Books. Retrieved: 15 April 2014. During July through September 1955 Northwind supported Distant Early Warning Line operations. From November 1956 through April 1957 Northwind participated in Operation Deep Freeze II, in expeditions to Antarctica, providing clear passage for the cargo ships including USNS Private John Towle. On 20 January 1957 a small gathering of ship personnel, including Sir Edmund Hillary and Capt John Wiis, master of USNS Towle commemorated the opening of Scott's Base, Pram Point Antarctica. The expedition vessels were all part of Task Force 43, in the Antarctic. Northwind Glacier in Victoria Land was named after her. Northwind sailed again with U.S. Navy Task Force 43 on Operation Deep Freeze IV from December 1958 through February 1959. Northwind sailed to Wilkes Station in support of the U.S. National Committee and National Academy of Sciences during the International Geophysical Year 1957 to 1958.
1960s
In 1961 Northwind sailed on Bering Sea Patrol for Arctic West Summer operations. From 5 through 25 July 1962 and 6 through 19 September 1962, Northwind conducted oceanographic experiments in the Chukchi Sea in cooperation with universities of the Pacific Northwest. From 2 through 26 October 1962, she conducted more oceanographic experiments in East Siberian Sea and Arctic Ocean. From 7 August to 18 September 1963, she conducted oceanographic experiments in the Chukchi Sea, East Siberian Sea, and Laptev Sea seas in cooperation with the University of Southern California, and was awarded the Coast Guard Unit Commendation with Operational Distinguishing Device. From July to October 1964, she conducted Bering Sea Patrol, resupplied Nome station and carried out oceanographic experiments in the Bering Strait and Chukchi Sea. The cutter's crew installed an unmanned oceanographic station in Fairway Rock, Alaska to measure currents in the Bering Strait. She also escorted ships re-supplying the Distant Early Warning Line and laid cables.
In July 1965, Northwind, under the command of Captain Kingdrel N. Ayers, conducted an oceanographic survey between Greenland, Iceland, and Scotland and was the first western vessel to operate in the Kara Sea of the Soviet Union, for which she received the Coast Guard Unit Commendation with Operational Distinguishing Device. The (then) classified mission of Northwind was to attempt a transit of the Northeast Passage. This voyage involved transiting the Panama Canal. The effort was not successful and caused a diplomatic incident between the Soviet Union and the United States.Petrow, Richard (1967) Across the Top of Russia, The Cruise of the USCGC Northwind into the Polar Seas North of Siberia. New York, David McKay Co. Inc. and Van Rees Press. Library of Congress Cataloge Number: 67-19909.
In mid-October 1965 Northwind escorted the disabled Swedish MV Orion in the North Atlantic, while in seas, to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, Canada. In 1966 Northwind returned to Fairway Rock and the crew helped install a strontium-90 radioisotope thermoelectric generator and additional oceanographic sensors. Northwind then cruised the Laptev Sea and East Siberian Sea doing oceanographic surveys.Welcome Aboard USCGC Northwind. Pamphlet. 1968. U.S.C.G, Thirteenth District, Seattle, WA.
From July through August 1967, Northwind conducted a current and hydrographic survey in the Bering Strait and resupplied Fairway Rock.
During this Bering Sea Patrol, on 23 July 1967, Northwind diverted to respond to the distress call of Canadian Survey Ship (CSS) Richardson of the Canadian Hydrographic Service and was assisted by CCGS Camsell. Richardson was beset in ice northwest of Point Barrow, Alaska; heavily damaged and in imminent danger of loss. As Northwind broke out Richardson, Camsell took the tow and she was taken to Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories for repair.
From September to November 1967, Northwind was beset by ice north-northwest of Point Barrow, Alaska. She was freed by , , and . During this cruise Northwind made the northernmost penetration into Arctic pack ice by any surface vessel in history at the time. This mission was the last attempt to resupply T-3, also known as Fletcher's Ice Island station by Northwind with Glacier, John A. Macdonald and Staten Island.Official U.S. Coast Guard photograph with caption, number NOR 13CGD 100867-21. Print 10.
Between March and September 1968, she provided ice escort for the National Science Foundation research vessel RV Alpha Helix, then operated by the Scripps Institute of Oceanography at La Jolla, California. This operation was conducted in the Bering Sea. From 9 June to 15 July 1969 Northwind conducted an oceanographic survey in the Chukchi Sea and Bering Sea, with Staten Island, and scientists from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the University of Washington. On 26 June 1969 Northwind resupplied Fairway Rock.