USCGC Eastwind (WAGB-279)
.JPG) |
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| History | |
|---|---|
 United States
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| Operator: | U.S. Coast Guard. |
| Builder: | Western Pipe and Steel Company, San Pedro, California |
| Laid down: | 23 June 1942. |
| Launched: | 3 June 1944. |
| Commissioned: | 1944. |
| Decommissioned: | 1968. |
| Identification: | WAG-279. WAGB-279. |
| Nickname(s): | Republic of Nantucket Cutter (RONC) Ice Brother. |
| Fate: | 1972 Sold for scrap. |
| Status: | 19th Fleet. |
| Notes: | USCG callsign: NRFB. |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Coast Guard, Auxiliary, General, (WAG). Coast Guard, Auxiliary, General, (Ice) Breaker, (WAGB). |
| Displacement: | approx 6,515 tons full load. |
| Length: | 269 ft (82 m). |
| Beam: | 63.5 ft (19.4 m). |
| Draft: | 25.7 ft (7.8 m). |
| Ice class: | Wind class heavy icebreaker. |
| Installed power: |
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| Propulsion: | 2 × Westinghouse Electric DC electric motors driving the 2 aft propellers, 1 × 3,000 shp (2,200 kW) Westinghouse DC electric motor driving the detachable and seldom used bow propeller. |
| Speed: | 16.8 knots. |
USCGC Eastwind (WAGB-279) was a Wind-class icebreaker that was built for the United States Coast Guard. Completed in time to see action in World War II, she continued in USCG service under the same name until decommissioned in 1968.
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 shipyards in San Pedro. She was launched on 6 February 1943 and commissioned on 3 June 1944.
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 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. After the war her aft 5” mount was replaced by a helicopter deck, by 1951 her forward mount had also been removed.
Eastwind ferried 200 US army troops which captured the last German weather station in 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 USS Callao.
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 1956 and 1956 she participated in Antarctic exploration activities. Captain Oliver A. Peterson, Commanding.
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Wikipedia