USCGC Northwind in Baffin Bay on 10 July 1986. |
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| Career | |
|---|---|
| Builder: | Western Pipe and Steel Company |
| Laid down: | 10 July 1944 |
| Launched: | 25 February 1945 |
| Sponsored by: | Mrs. Mabelle C Dempwolf |
| Commissioned: | 28 July 1945 |
| Decommissioned: | 20 January 1989 |
| Nickname: | Grand Old Lady of the North |
| Fate: | Scrapped in 1999 |
| Notes: | Callsign: NRJF |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Wind-class icebreaker |
| Displacement: | 6,515 short tons (5,910 metric tons) |
| Length: | 269 ft (82 m) |
| Beam: | 63 ft 10 in (19.46 m) |
| Draft: | 29 ft 1 in (8.86 m) |
| Ice class: | Heavy (up to 13 ft (4.0 m) ice) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | 13.4 knots (24.8 km/h) top speed |
| Range: | 32,485 mi (52,280 km) |
| Boats and landing craft carried: |
4 lifeboats, 1 LCVP, 1 Arctic Survey Boat |
| Complement: | 219 officers and men |
| Sensors and processing systems: |
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| Armament: |
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| Aircraft carried: | One fixed wing amphibious aircraft or two helicopters. |
| Aviation facilities: | Flight deck with retractable hangar. Two booms for lifting aircraft. |
USCGC Northwind (WAG/WAGB-282), Grand Old Lady of the North, was a Wind-class icebreaker, the second United States Coast Guard Cutter of her class to bear the name. She was built by Western Pipe & Steel in San Pedro, California and launched on 25 February 1945, sponsored by Mrs. Mabelle Dempwolf.
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.
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Northwind was one of the icebreakers designed by Lieutenant commander Edward Thiele 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 Wind-class of icebreakers operated by the United States Coast Guard. She was launched on 25 February 1945 and commissioned on 28 July 1945. Rear Admiral Ralph W. Dempwolf presided over the ceremony with his wife, Mrs. Mabelle C. Dempwolf, serving as the sponsor.[1]
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-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 as anti-submarine weapons.[1]
Northwind's first major mission was Operation Nanook from 22 July–05 August 1946.[2] The objective of Operation Nanook was to assist in a Danish-American project to establish a radio and weather station in Thule, Greenland.[3] This area later became Thule Air Force Base.
From July through September 1946 the first helicopter deployment from a Coast Guard icebreaker occurred when Aviation Pilot First Class John A Olson and AMN1 Richard H. Dowst, observer, flew 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.[4] 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.[5]
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,[6] 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[7] 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 USS Sennet. Northwind also rescued USS Mount Olympus, USS Yancey, and USS Merrick which were beset and damaged in the ice floe at the Antarctic Circle.[8] The first helicopter flight to base Little America IV was accomplished by Lieutenant James Cornish, as pilot, and Photographers Mate Chief Everett Mashburn, as observer, from Northwind on January 15 1947. Her crew played the first baseball game, the first double header (all without lights), and the first golf tournament in Antarctica.[9]
During May to August 1948 Northwind conducted her first Bering Sea Patrol, the first in eight years,[10] 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.[11] She also delivered and dispatched the U.S. Mail for remote Arctic outposts, lightships and lighthouses. She performed law enforcement,[11] 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 [12], oceanographic and hydrographic research, re-supplying remote units, ethnological studies of the Aleuts,[11] laying cables, and environmentally related missions. Northwind was a research platform for geophysical studies performed by scientists and students from universities in Alaska, Washington, and California. [1]
In 1952 Northwind broke the polar icebreaking record for miles sailed north of the Arctic Circle in one season: 10,029 miles (16,140 km). 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.[13] During 1953 Northwind conducted a Bering Sea Patrol.
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 HMCS Labrador and USS Burton Island. When the three ships rendezvoused 25 August 1954 off the coast of Melville Island, it was the first time ships sailing from east and west met in the Northwest Passage. This cruise was also the first where vessels transited McClure Strait and circumnavigated Banks Island.[14]
From February through April 1955 Northwind sailed on a Bering Sea scientific expedition. 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, as part of Task Force 43, in the Antarctic.[1] Northwind sailed again on Operation Deep Freeze IV from December 1958 through February 1959.
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 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.[1]
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. In mid-October 1965 Northwind escorted the disabled Swedish MV Orion in the North Atlantic, while in 40 feet (12 m) seas, to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, Canada.
During July and August 1967, Northwind conducted a current and hydrographic survey in the Bering Strait.[1] During this Bering Sea Patrol, on 23 July 1967, Northwind diverted to respond to the distress call of Canadian Survey Ship Richardson and was assisted by CCGS Camsell. Richardson was beset in ice 5 miles (8.0 km) 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.[15]
From September to November 1967, Northwind was beset by ice 450 miles (720 km) north-northwest of Point Barrow, Alaska. She was freed by CCGS John A. Macdonald, USCGC Glacier, and USCGC Staten Island.[1] During this cruise Northwind made the northern-most penetration into Arctic pack ice by any surface vessel in history at the time.[1]
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.[16] From 9 June to 15 July 1969 Northwind conducted an oceanographic survey in the Chukchi Sea and Bering Sea, with USCGC Staten Island, and scientists from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the University of Washington.[1]
From 8 through 22 September 1969, Northwind, Captain Donald J. McCann, USCG, Commanding, and the Canadian icebreaker CCGS John A. Macdonald escorted the SS Manhattan supertanker, of the Humble Oil and Refining Company, from Resolute Bay, Canada to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska where she was relieved by USCGC Staten Island on transit of the Northwest Passage. CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent provided support during the eastward leg of the expedition. During the expedition Northwind lost a main engine bearing and the Engineer Division attempted repairs while underway, and went on to complete the Northwest Passage transit. Then, Northwind tested ice and returned to Seattle, Washington having transited 14,000 miles (23,000 km) and became the first surface vessel to conduct both a West to East and East to West transit of the Northwest Passage in a single season.[1]
From 20 January through 9 April 1970 Northwind conducted an Arctic West Summer patrol and oceanographic cruise. The cutter's northern-most penetration into the Arctic pack ice was at on 13 March 1970. This broke her 1967 surface vessel record by 9 miles (14 km), and set a new record. From 23 June through 28 September 1970 Northwind served on Arctic Operations. Her duties included laying cables, oceanographic studies, and re-supplying the Distant Early Warning Line.[1] On 13 July 1970 Northwind rescued two crewmen from a ditched helicopter near the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta in Norton Sound.
Due to the discovery of oil on the North Slope of Alaska in 1971, Northwind surveyed the area that year. She also broke out an icebound convoy of twenty tugboats and forty barges enroute to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska in 1971. [17] From 1971 to 1972 Northwind sailed on Operation Deep Freeze to the Antarctic. She was once again in the Antarctic for Operation Deep Freeze from 1972 to 1973. During June and July 1973 Northwind conducted oceanographic research in Alaskan waters. From 1973 to 1975 Northwind underwent extensive machinery modernization and electronic modification at the U.S. Coast Guard Yard at Curtis Bay, Maryland and was stationed in Baltimore, Maryland. During the summer of 1975, Northwind conducted an Arctic West Summer cruise. From 6 October 1976 to 13 April 1977 Northwind broke ice during Operation Deep Freeze with Task Force 99 in Antarctica.[1]
On 28 April 1978 Northwind assisted a U.S. Navy Landing Craft Mechanized extinguish a fire in the Caribbean. From 10 July to 10 December 1978 Northwind undertook an Arctic cruise. From 3 November 1979 until 24 March 1980 Northwind joined in Operation Deep Freeze to the Antarctic. From 1978 to 1989 Northwind was stationed at Wilmington, North Carolina and did icebreaking in the Great Lakes.
From 26 September 1981 to 13 December 1981 Northwind made a cruise to the Arctic. On 16 February 1984 Northwind accomplished the MEDEVAC of a woman from a 33 feet (10 m) sailing vessel 200 miles (320 km) west of Bermuda. On 5 August 1984 Northwind assisted a personal craft off Kulusuk, Greenland. On 4 November 1984 Northwind seized P/C Alexi I, 240 miles (390 km) southwest of Jamaica carrying 20 short tons (18 metric tons) of marijuana. Northwind was participating in Operation Wagonwheel Forces[18] [19] an inter-agency narcotics interdiction effort in the Caribbean from 31 October to 31 November 1984. She became the first icebreaker to make a narcotics seizure and broke the previous tonnage record set by USCGC Sherman. This was a marijuana seizure record that stands as of 2011. From 2 July to 21 July 1986 Northwind assisted the Danish and Greenland governments in reestablishing a musk-ox herd in northwest Greenland.[9]
The last mission of Northwind was an Arctic East Summer (AES) 1988 cruise, the Coordinated Eastern Arctic Experiment (CEAREX). Her role was to serve as ice-escort for the Norwegian research vessel, R/V Polarbjorn.[20] Northwind broke ice in the Norwegian and Greenland Seas, northward to the Svalbard archipelago of Norway from September 1988 through October 1988. Northwind then returned to homeport in Wilmington, North Carolina. Prior to decommissioning Northwind went on a goodwill cruise to Canadian and U.S. ports.
Northwind was decommissioned in Wilmington, North Carolina on 20 January 1989.[1] She was the last remaining of the original seven U.S. built Wind-class icebreakers.[21] An effort to preserve Northwind in her homeport alongside the USS North Carolina failed, and the ship was scrapped at International Shipbreakers, Port of Brownsville, Texas.[1] The scrapping operation took nearly 6 months to complete.[22]
Northwind earned two Coast Guard Unit Commendations, both with Operational Distinguishing Devices, during oceanographic experiments in 1963 and 1965. She was awarded three Meritorious Unit Commendation with Operational Distinguishing Device for the periods of 14 December 1977 to 10 April 1978, 1 May 1983 to 6 May 1984 and 16 October 1984 to 26 October 1984. During deployments to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba for the periods of 15 October 1976 to 5 November 1976 and 1 March 1982 to 31 March 1982, she also received two Coast Guard E Ribbons.[23]
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| Coast Guard Unit Commendation with Operational Distinguishing Device and 1 award star | Coast Guard Meritorious Unit Commendation with Operational Distinguishing Device and 1 award star | Coast Guard E Ribbon with 1 award star |
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