USCGC Southwind on 15 July 1944. |
|
| Career (USCG) | . |
|---|---|
| Name: | USCGC Southwind (WAG-280). |
| Builder: | Western Pipe and Steel Company. |
| Cost: | $9,880,037.00 |
| Yard number: | CG-98. |
| Laid down: | 20 July 1942. |
| Launched: | 8 March 1943. |
| Sponsored by: | Mrs Ona Jones. |
| Commissioned: | 15 July 1944 (USCG). |
| Decommissioned: | 23 March 1945 (USCG). |
| Fate: | transferred to USSR on 25 March 1945. |
| Career (USSR.) | |
| Name: | Admiral Makarov |
| Namesake: | Stepan Makarov |
| Acquired: | 25 March 1945. |
| Fate: | Returned to the United States, on 28 December 1949. |
| Career (USN) | |
| Name: | USS Atka (AGB-3). |
| Namesake: | Atka Island |
| Acquired: | 28 December 1949. |
| Commissioned: | 13 April 1950. |
| Decommissioned: | 31 October 1966. |
| Fate: | Transferred back to USCG, 31 October 1966. |
| Struck: | 1 November 1966. |
| Career (USCG) | . |
| Name: | USCGC Southwind (WAG-280). |
| Acquired: | 31 October 1966. |
| Recommissioned: | 31 October 1966. |
| Decommissioned: | 31 May 1974. |
| Fate: | Sold for scrap on 17 March 1976. |
| Notes: | Ships callsign: NRFC. |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Wind-class icebreaker. |
| Displacement: | 6,515 tons (1945). |
| Length: | 269 ft (82 m) oa. |
| Beam: | 63 ft 6 in (19.35 m) mb. |
| Draft: | 25 ft 9 in (7.85 m), max. |
| Installed power: | 12,000 SHP. |
| Propulsion: | 6 Fairbanks Morse 10-cylinder diesels driving 6 Westinghouse DC generators which in turn drove 3 electric motors; 12,000 SHP; two screws aft; one screw forward |
| Speed: | Top speed: 13.4 knots (24.8 km/h) (1967) Economic speed: 11.6 knots. |
| Range: | 32,485 nautical miles (60,162 km). |
| Complement: | 12 officers, 2 warrants, 205 men (1967). |
| Sensors and processing systems: |
Radar: SPS-10B; SPS-53A; SPS-6C (1967) Sonar: QCJ-8 (1944). |
| Armament: | 4 × 5"/38 (twin mounts); 12 × 40mm/60 (quad mounts); 6 × 20mm/80 (single mounts); 2 × depth charge tracks; 6 × "K" guns; 1 Hedgehog M2 Browning machine guns and small arms (1944). |
| Aircraft carried: | 1 Grumman J2F Seaplane or 2 helicopters. |
| Aviation facilities: | Retractable hangar. |
USCGC Southwind (WAGB-280) was a Wind-class icebreaker that served in the United States Coast Guard as USCGC Southwind (WAG-280), the Soviet Navy as the Admiral Makarov, the United States Navy as USS Atka (AGB-3) and again in the U.S. Coast Guard as USCGC Southwind (WAGB-280).
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Construction began on 20 July 1942 in the Western Pipe and Steel Company shipyards in San Pedro, California, and she was launched on 8 March 1943 sponsored by Mrs Ona Jones. On 15 July 1944, she was commissioned as USCGC Southwind (WAG-280).
After service on the Greenland Patrol, and assisting USCGC Eastwind in capturing the German trawler Externsteine, Southwind was transferred to the Soviet Union on 23 or 25 March 1945 as part of the Lend-Lease Program.
The ship served in the Soviet merchant marine under the name Admiral Makarov (Russian: Адмирал Макаров, named in honor of Stepan Makarov) until being returned to the US Navy on 28 December 1949 at Yokosuka Japan.
In 1950 the ship was returned to the US Navy and rechristened as USS Atka (AGB-3), after the small Aleutian island of Atka. Upon her arrival at Boston, Atka entered the Boston Naval Shipyard for a thorough overhaul and modernization. The work was completed late in May 1951, and Atka began operations from Boston, Massachusetts in July 1951.
Throughout her career in the American navy, the icebreaker followed a routine established by the changing seasons. In the late spring, she would set sail for either the northern or southern polar regions to resupply American and Canadian air bases and weather and radar stations. In early fall, she would return to Boston for upkeep and repairs. In the winter, the ship would sail various routes in the North Atlantic to gather weather data before returning to Boston in early spring for repairs and preparation for her annual polar expedition.
The ship often carried civilian scientists who plotted data on ocean currents and ocean water characteristics. They also assembled hydrographic data on the poorly charted polar regions. Atka was also involved in numerous tests of cold weather equipment and survival techniques.
She served in the Atlantic fleet and completed three Arctic tours.
On 31 October 1966 she was transferred the United States Coast Guard and christened again as USCGC Southwind (WAGB-280), changed homeport to Curtis Bay, Baltimore, Maryland]].
After a shakedown cruise to Bermuda she proceeded on its first operational cruise north to Thule, Greenland.
She deployed to the Arctic in 1967, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972 and 1973, as well as to the Antarctic in December 1967, December 1968 and January 1972. In 1968 she was involved in a diplomatic incident between Chile and Argentine about navegation rights in the Beagle channel.[1]
In 1971, Southwind visited the port of Murmansk, being the first US naval vessel to visit a Soviet port since the start of the cold war. During that visit, she took aboard a boilerplate (BP-1227) from the Apollo Program. The boilerplate has been lost in the North Sea in early 1970, recovered by a Hungarian vessel, transferred to the Soviet Union, and passed to Southwind in September 1970.[2][3]
Southwind was decommissioned on 31 May 1974, and sold for scrap on 17 March 1976 for $231,079.00 to Union Mineral & Alloy Corporation of New York.
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