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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive


Patches contributed by Mike Smolinski

USCGC Glacier (WAGB-4)
ex
USS Glacier (AGB-4) (1955 - 1966)

International Radio Call Sign:
November - Alpha - Alpha - Oscar
NAAO

USS Glacier (AGB-4) was turned over to the US Coast Guard and recommissioned, USCGC Glacier (WAGB-4)
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Precedence of awards is from left to right
Navy Unit Commendation - National Defense Service Medal - Antarctic Service Medal


Glacier Class Icebreaker:
  • Laid down, 3 August 1953, at Ingalls Shipbuilding, Corp., Pascagoula, MS.
  • Launched, 27 August 1954
  • Commissioned USS Glacier (AGB-4), 27 May 1955, CDR. E .H. Mater in command
  • Decommissioned, transferred to the Coast Guard, 30 June 1966
  • Recommissioned as USCGC Glacier (WAGB-4)
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 1 July 1966
  • Decommissioned by the Coast Guard, 7 July 1987
  • Transferred to the MARAD for lay up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, Suisun Bay, Benecia, CA
  • Final Disposition, to serve as a museum ship at Bridgeport, CT.
    Specifications:
    Displacement 8,650 t.
    Length 310'
    Beam 74'
    Draft 29'
    Speed 16 kts.
    Complement 16 Officers, 232 Enlisted
    Air Detachment Complement 4 Officers, 10 Enlisted
    Aircraft two helicopters
    Armament one twin 5"/38 dual purpose gun mount
    three twin 3"/50 dual purpose gun mounts
    Propulsion ten Fairbanks-Morse diesel engines in three engine rooms connected through Main Control to two General Electric electric propulsion motors

    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image
    Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    USS Glacier (AGB-4)
    Glacier 95k USS Glacier (AGB-4) schematic drawing.
    US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine, December 1956
    Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
    Glacier 118k USS Glacier (AGB-4) underway, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine, September 1955
    Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
    Glacier 179k USS Glacier (AGB-4) heavily encrusted with ice while underway in the Antarctic, date unknown.
    US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine, December 1956
    Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
    Glacier 50k USS Glacier (AGB-4) underway at Boston, August 1960 © Richard Leonhardt
    Glacier 99k USS Glacier (AGB-4) deep in the ice while providing support for Deep Freeze 60 (1959-60). Glacier succeeded in making the deepest penetration south in the Bellinghausen Sea ever make by a ship--71.53° south latitude and 95.44.2° west longitude--and landed a small party on Turston Peninsula. It was the first time in recorded history that man had ever set foot on this previously unknown stretch of antarctic terrain.
    US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine, April 1960.
    Stanley C. Svec
    Glacier 106k USS Glacier (AGB-4) leaving Norfolk, VA. for Operation "Deep Freeze", circa early-1961.
    US Navy photo for "All Hands" magazine, April 1961.
    Stanley C. Svec
    Glacier 75k USS Glacier (AGB-4) moored pierside outboard of another icebreaker at Boston, June 1961 © Richard Leonhardt
    Glacier 124k USS Glacier (AGB-4) moored pierside at Boston, November 1962 © Richard Leonhardt
    Glacier 85k USS Glacier (AGB-4) at Boston, September 1964 © Richard Leonhardt
    Glacier 31k USS Glacier (AGB-4) underway while breaking ice, date and location unknown. Marc Schenck
    Burton Island/Atka/Glacier 98k From left to right; USS Burton Island (AGB-1), USS Atka (AGB-3) and USS Glacier (AGB-4) pushing an iceberg out of the channel near McMurdo Station, Antarctica, 29 December 1965.
    US Navy photo from DANFS.
    Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
    USCGC Glacier (WAGB-4)
    Glacier 55k USCGC Glacier (WAGB-4) underway, date and location unknown. Robert Hurst
    Glacier 22k USCGC Glacier (WAGB-4) at Boston, September 1964. Ken Laesser
    Glacier 70k USCGC Glacier (WAGB-4) underway, date and place unknown. Randy Ward
    USS Glacier Operation Deep Freeze Patches
    Glacier 34k USS Glacier (AGB-4) "Operation Deep Freeze" Patch Mike Smolinski
    Glacier 23k USS Glacier (AGB-4) "Operation Deep Freeze" Patch Mike Smolinski

    View the Glacier (AGB-4)
    DANFS history entry located at the US Naval Historical Center
    View the LTjg. Bernard Schenck Glacier Photo Collection submitted by Marc Schenck
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S.Navy Memorial Foundation
    Fleet Reserve Association

    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    USS Glacier (AGB-4) Association
    The Glacier Society
    U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office
    Back To The Navsource Photo Archives Main Page Back To The Service Ship Photo Index Back To The Icebreaker (AGB) Photo Index
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
    © 2005 Gary P. Priolo © 1996 - 2008 NavSource Naval History. All Rights Reserved.
    Last Updated 11 April 2008