| Career (USN) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | USS Burton Island (AG-88). |
| Namesake: | An island off the coast of Delaware. |
| Builder: | Western Pipe and Steel Company (WPS), San Pedro, California |
| Cost: | $9.880,037.00 USD. |
| Laid down: | 15 March 1946. |
| Launched: | 30 April 1946. |
| Christened: | 1946. |
| Completed: | 1946. |
| Commissioned: | 28 December 1946. |
| Decommissioned: | 15 December 1966. |
| Maiden voyage: | 17 January 1947. |
| In service: | 08 December 1946. |
| Out of service: | 15 December 1966. |
| Struck: | 1966. |
| Identification: | AG-88 (1946). AGB-1 (1949). |
| Nickname: | B.I. |
| Fate: | Transferred to U.S. Coast Guard. |
| Career (USCG) | |
| Name: | USCGC Burton Island (WAGB-283). |
| Recommissioned: | 15 December 1966. |
| Decommissioned: | 09 May 1978. |
| Homeport: | Long Beach, California (1966). Governor's Island, Alameda, California (1977). |
| Nickname: | Hurtin' Burton. B.I. White Antarctic Garbage Barge. |
| Fate: | Sold for scrap, 17 August 1980. |
| Status: | 19th Fleet. |
| Notes: | Ships callsign: NRFC. |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Wind class heavy icebreaker. |
| Type: | Auxiliary, General, (Ice) Breaker (AGB). Coast Guard, Auxiliary, General, (Ice) Breaker (WAGB). |
| Displacement: | 6515 tons (1945). |
| Length: | 269 feet oa. 82 meters. |
| Beam: | 63 feet 6 inches mb. 19.35 meters. |
| Draft: | 25 feet, 9 inches. 7.85 meters. |
| Ice class: | Wind class. Heavy icebreaker. |
| Propulsion: | 6 Fairbanks-Morse 10-cylinder diesels driving 6 Westinghouse DC generators which in turn drove 3 electric motors; 12,000 shp (8,948 kW) two propellers aft; one propeller forward (1946). |
| Speed: | 13.4 knots (24.8 km/h; 15.4 mph) |
| Range: | 32,485 mi (52,280 km) |
| Endurance: | Top speed 13.4 knots. Economic speed 11.6 knots with range of 32,585 miles. |
| Boats and landing craft carried: |
4 lifeboats. 1 LCVP. 1 Greenland Cruiser, later Arctic Survey Boat (ASB). |
| Sensors and processing systems: |
Electronics: Radar SPS-10B; SPS-53A; SPS-6C (1967). Sonar. |
| Armament: | 1 twin mount Mk 12 5"/38 caliber gun, forward main deck. 1 twin mount 40mm/60, forward O-2 deck. M2 Browning machine guns and small arms. (1946). M2 Browning machine guns, M60 machine guns, and small arms (1966). |
| Aircraft carried: | 2 single rotor helicopters and air detachment personnel. |
| Aviation facilities: | Flight deck and retractable hangar with aircraft service capabilities. |
USS Burton Island (AG-88) was a United States Navy Wind-class icebreaker that was later re-commissioned in the United States Coast Guard as the United States Coast Guard Cutter Burton Island (WAGB-283).
Burton Island was laid down on 15 March 1946 at the San Pedro shipyard of the Western Pipe and Steel Company (WPS), launched on 30 April 1946, and commissioned 28 December 1946 with the identifier AG-88. She was named after an island near the coast of Delaware.
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On 17 January 1947, Burton Island, loaded with supplies, steamed from San Diego to Ross Sea, Antarctica where it met with units of TF 68 on the first Antarctica Development project, Operation Highjump. After returning from Antarctica, Burton Island departed 25 July 1947 for the Point Barrow expedition to Alaska. From April 1948 to December 1956, Burton Island participated in 19 Arctic and Alaskan cruises, including Operation Windmill. During Operation Windmill Burton Island was the flagship of CDR Gerald L. Ketchum, USN commander of Task Force 39. Duties on the cruises varied including, supply activities, helicopter reconnaissance of ice flows, scientific surveys, underwater demolition surveys, and convoy exercises. In March 1949, Burton Island was redesignated AGB-1. One prominent excursion was with the USS Seadragon (SSN-584) and USS Skate (SSN-578) in 1962, in which torpedoes were tested underneath the polar ice pack after the two subs had rendezvoused at the North Pole.[1]
On 15 December 1966, the U.S. Navy transferred the vessel, along with all of its icebreakers, to the United States Coast Guard and it was renumbered WAGB-283. After its transfer, Burton Island was stationed at Long Beach, California and used for icebreaking operations. Starting in 1967 through 1978, Burton Island went on eight different Deep Freeze operations to the Antarctic. In the operations, Burton Island was responsible for creating and maintaining aids to navigation, clearing channels through the ice for supply vessels, laying cables, delivering and dispatching the U.S. Mail at remote stations and vessels, search and rescue, fisheries patrol, law enforcment, and giving dental and medical treatment at remote Native Alaskan communities. In addition to Deep Freeze operations, Burton Island served as a floating platform for scientific surveys and research around Alaska and other isolated polar areas. Burton Island also conducted numerous search and rescue (SAR) missions.
From October 1967 to April 1968 she participated in Operation Deep Freeze '68. From October 1968 to April 1969 she participated in Operation Deep Freeze '69. From November 1969 to April 1970 she participated in Operation Deep Freeze '70 and her accompanying icebreaker USCGC Edisto (WAGB-284) was disabled. From November 1970 to April 1971 she participated in Operation Deep Freeze '71 and again her accompanying icebreaker USCGC Staten Island (WAGB-278) was disabled. From August to September 1971 she conducted an oceanographic survey along North Slope, Alaska. From February to March 1972 she conducted a scientific survey in Cook Inlet, Alaska. From November 1972 to April 1973 she participated in Operation Deep Freeze '73. From June to July 1973 she conducted oceanographic research in Alaskan waters. From November 1974 to April 1975 she participated in Operation Deep Freeze '75. From 13 November 1975 to 26 February 1976 she participated in Operation Deep Freeze '76. From July to September 1976 she deployed to the Arctic. From 9 November 1976 to 7 April 1977 she participated in Operation Deep Freeze '77. During that deployment in December, 1976, she carried out numerous SAR missions at Wellington, New Zealand following a torrential downpour. From 9 July 1977 to 8 September 1977 she undertook a cruise to the Arctic Ocean during which time her crew constructed several radar navigation towers along the north coast of Alaska and conducted gravity surveys of the Arctic Ocean. From 20 November 1977 to 1 April 1978 she participated in Operation Deep Freeze '78. From mid-1977 to 9 May 1978 she was stationed at Alameda, California and used for icebreaking.
She was decommissioned on 9 May 1978. An excerpt from a Maritime Administration letter dated 21 November 1995 indicates her ultimate fate:
A 1/300 scale plastic model kit of the Burton Island is available by Revell-monogram or on Ebay.
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
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