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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

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)
	95k	*USS Glacier* (AGB-4)** schematic drawing. US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine, December 1956	Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
	118k	*USS Glacier* (AGB-4)** underway, date and location unknown. US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine, September 1955	Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
	114k	*USS Glacier* (AGB-4)** underway, 8 November 1955, location unknown. US Navy photo # NH 67733, Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1969, from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center.	US Naval Historical Center
	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.
	50k	*USS Glacier* (AGB-4)** underway at Boston, August 1960	© Richard Leonhardt
	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
	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
	75k	*USS Glacier* (AGB-4)** moored pierside outboard of another icebreaker at Boston, June 1961	© Richard Leonhardt
	124k	*USS Glacier* (AGB-4)** moored pierside at Boston, November 1962	© Richard Leonhardt
	85k	*USS Glacier* (AGB-4)** at Boston, September 1964	© Richard Leonhardt
	31k	*USS Glacier* (AGB-4)** underway while breaking ice, date and location unknown.	Marc Schenck
	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)
	55k	*USCGC Glacier* (WAGB-4)** underway, date and location unknown.	Robert Hurst
	22k	*USCGC Glacier* (WAGB-4)** at Boston, September 1964.	Ken Laesser
	70k	*USCGC Glacier* (WAGB-4)** underway, date and place unknown.	Randy Ward
	36k	*USCGC Glacier* (WAGB-4), followed by USCGC Burton Island (WAGB-283), and USCGC Southwind (WAGB-280)** as they crush a path through heavily iced McMurdo Sound, in the Antarctic for cargo ships to follow to the main base at Hut Point, Ross Island, during "Operation Deep Freeze", 1969. US Coast Guard photo # GAP1-01-00-69; 1969	Robert Hurst
	65k	*USCGC Glacier* (WAGB-4)** being assisted by an unidentified tug, date and location. US Coast Guard photo.	Robert Hurst
	24k	*USCGC Glacier* (WAGB-4)** underway, date and location. US Coast Guard photo.	Robert Hurst
	102k	*USCGC Glacier* (WAGB-4)** underway, circa 1970s, location unknown. US Coast Guard photo.	Robert Hurst
USS Glacier Operation Deep Freeze Patches
	34k	*USS Glacier* (AGB-4)** "Operation Deep Freeze" Patch	Mike Smolinski
	23k	*USS Glacier* (AGB-4)** "Operation Deep Freeze" Patch	Mike Smolinski