USS Glacier (AGB-4) (later USCGC Glacier (WAG/WAGB-4)) is the historic Glacier class icebreaker which served in the first through fifteenth Operation Deep Freeze expeditions. Glacier was first icebreaker to make her way through the frozen Bellingshausen Sea, and most of the topography in the area is named for her crewmembers. When built, Glacier had the largest capacity single armature DC motors ever installed on a ship. Glacier was capable of breaking ice up to 20 feet (6.1 m) thick, and of continuous breaking of 4-foot (1.2 m) thick ice at 3 knots (5.6 km/h; 3.5 mph).
Named for Glacier Bay, Alaska, the USS Glacier (AGB-4) was launched on 27 August 1954 at Ingalls Shipbuilding Corp., Pascagoula, Mississippi, sponsored by Mrs. Roscoe F. Good; and commissioned on 27 May 1955, CDR. E .H. Mayer USN, Commanding. The Glacier class icebreaker was similar to the Wind class icebreakers, but longer and more powerful. Glacier is the only icebreaker built in the Glacier class, and is the single remaining diesel-electric (DC) powered icebreaker. Glacier was in U.S. Navy service for 11 years, and U.S. Coast Guard service for 21 years.
Famous quotes containing the word glacier:
““The glacier knocks in the cupboard,
The desert sighs in the bed,
And the crack in the tea-cup opens
A lane to the land of the dead.”
—W.H. (Wystan Hugh)