USCGC Southwind (WAGB-280)

USCGC Southwind in December 1970
History
United States
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
Soviet Union
Name:	Admiral Makarov
Namesake:	Stepan Makarov
Acquired:	25 March 1945
Fate:	Returned to the United States, on 28 December 1949
United States
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
United States
Name:	USCGC Southwind (WAG-280)
Acquired:	31 October 1966
Recommissioned:	31 October 1966
Decommissioned:	31 May 1974
Nickname(s):	The Polar Prowler
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:	Diesel-electric: 6 × Fairbanks-Morse model 8-1/8OP, 10-cylinder opposed piston engines at 2,000 shp (1,500 kW), each driving a Westinghouse DC electric generator.
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:	Top speed: 13.4 knots (24.8 km/h) (1967) Economic speed: 11.6 knots (21.5 km/h)
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).

Southwind was the 3rd of the Wind-class of icebreakers operated by the United States Coast Guard. Her keel was laid on 20 July 1942 at the Western Pipe and Steel Company shipyards in San Pedro, California, she was christened by Mrs. Ona Jones and launched on 8 March 1943, and commissioned on 15 July 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.

Southwind, 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 her return from Soviet service she had a single 5"38 cal. mount forward and a helicopter deck aft. In 1968 the forward mount was removed.

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 weather ship Externsteine, Southwind was transferred to the Soviet Union on 23 or 25 March 1945 as part of the Lend-Lease Program.