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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

USCGC Westwind (WAGB-281)
ex
 USS Westwind (AGB-6) (1952)
 USCGC Westwind (WAG-281) (1944 - 1945)

International Radio Call Sign:
November - Lima - Kilo - Lima
 NLKL

Precedence of awards is from left to right
American Campaign Medal - World War II Victory Medal - National Defense Service Medal (2)
Burton Island Class Icebreaker:
  • Laid down, 24 August 1942, at Western Pipe and Steel Co., San Pedro, CA.
  • Launched, 31 March 1942
  • Commissioned USCGC Westwind (WAG-281), 18 September 1944, CAPT. Stephen Swicegood, USCG, in command
  • Decommissioned, 21 February 1945, and transferred to the USSR, renamed Severni Pulius
  • Returned to US Naval custody, 19 December 1951, at Bremerhaven, Germany
  • Commissioned USS Westwind (AGB-6), 1 February 1952, at Bremerhaven, Germany
  • Decommissioned, 13 March 1952, at Boston Navy Yard
  • Transferred to the United States Coast Guard, 19 March 1952
  • Struck from the Navy list, 8 September 1952
  • Commissioned USCGC Westwind (WAGB-281), 22 September 1952, CDR. Errol H. Seegers, USCG, in command
  • Decommissioned, 29 February 1988
  • Final Disposition, fate unknown
    Specifications:
    Displacement
    As Built - 3,575 t.(lt) 6,515 t.(fl), 5,425 t.(lim)
    Coast Guard 1967 - 3,052 t.(lt) 6,481 t.(fl)
    Length 269'
    Beam 63' 6"
    Draft 25' 9"
    Speed
    Trial Speed 16 Kts.
    Max Sustained 13.4 Kts, 30,929-mi radius (1967)
    Economic 11.6 Kts, 32,485-mi radius (1967)
    Complement
    Navy
    Officers - 21
    Enlisted - 332
    Coast Guard 204
    Armament
    Navy
    two twin 5"/38 cal dual purpose gun mounts
    three quad 40mm AA gun mounts
    two depth charge tracks
    Coast Guard none
    Aircraft two helicopters
    Fuel Capacities
    Diesel - 10,185 Bbls
    Gasoline - 7,200 Gals
    Propulsion
    six Fairbanks Morse 10-cylinder diesels driving six Westinghouse DC generators
    two 200Kw 240V D.C. diesel-drive Ship's Service Generators
    three propellers, two aft, 13,000shp, one forward
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    USCGC Westwind (WAG-281)
    Westwind 27k View of USCGC Westwind (WAG-281) aircraft handling crane holding a Grumman J2F Duck at the end of the crane boom. Photo was taken at the Western Pipe and Steel Co. Yard at San Pedro, CA., 7 October 1944.
    USCG photo # AG-CR 99 from the US Coast Guard Historian's Office.    		 Robert Hurst
    USS Westwind (AGB-6)
    Westwind 45k USS Westwind (AGB-6) underway with heavy wartime gun armament and a Grumman J2F utility amphibian biplane on her deck amidships.
    US Navy photo from DANFS    		 Robert Hurst
    USCGC Westwind (WAGB-281)
    Westwind 178k A USAF Piasecki HRP-1 Flying Banana lands on board a platform built over the after deck ofUSCGC Westwind (WAGB-281) in 1956.
    USCG photo # unknown from the US Coast Guard Historian's Office.    		 Robert Hurst
    Westwind 24k USCGC Westwind (WAGB-281) underway in Arctic ice in 1957. LT. Keith Midberry, USCG Ret.
    Westwind 365k An HSS-1 helicopter landing on the flight deck of USCGC Westwind (WAGB-281) operating off the East coast of the United Sates, 27 January 1961.
    US Navy and Marine Corps Museum/Naval Aviation Museum, Photo No. 1993.501.073.182.    		 Mike Green
    Westwind 26k USCGC Westwind (WAGB-281) prepares for an Sikorsky HH-52A landing in Gravesend Bay, Brooklyn, 6 March 1964.
    USCG photo # unknown from the US Coast Guard Historian's Office.    		 Robert Hurst
    Westwind 36k USCGC Westwind (WAGB-281) approaching USCG LORAN Station Cape Atholl, Greenland in 1964.
    USCG photo    		 Robert Hurst
    Westwind 100k USCGC Westwind (WAGB-281) underway in 1964, striking an 18' thick ice floe. Official United States Coast Guard photo. Robert Hurst
    Westwind 273k USCGC Westwind (WAGB-281) underway in Arctic ice, date unknown. LT. Keith Midberry, USCG Ret.
    Westwind 76k USCGC Westwind (WAGB-281) helicopter in the Arctic, date unknown. LT. Keith Midberry, USCG Ret.
    Commanding Officers
    01CAPT. Swicegood, Stephen Peston, USCG (USCGA 1925)18 September 1944 - 21 February 1945(WAG-281) - To USSR
    02CDR. Seegers, Errol H., USCGJanuary 1952 - June 1952(WAGB-281)
    03LCDR. Mullin, John C., USCGJune 1952 - September 1952(WAGB-281)
    04CAPT. Curry, Ralph Roy (Gus), USCG (USCGA 1930)September 1952 - August 1954(WAGB-281)
    05CAPT. Stolfi, Henry Florian, USCG (USCGA 1930)August 1954 - May 1956(WAGB-281)
    06CAPT. Smenton, Peter Joseph, USCG (USCGA 1933)May 1956 - May 1957(WAGB-281)
    07CAPT. Conley Jr., William Joseph, USCG (USCGA 1935)May 1957 - August 1959(WAGB-281)
    08CAPT. Sutter, William Louis, USCG (USCGA 1935)August 1959 - July 1961(WAGB-281)
    09CAPT. West, Ralph McMurray, USCG (USCGA 1939)July 1961 - May 1963(WAGB-281)
    10CAPT. Barber, Robert Franklin, USCG (USCGA 1940)May 1963 - July 1965(WAGB-281)
    11CAPT. Goettel, Frederick August, USCG (USCGA 1943)July 1965 - 8 June 1967(WAGB-281)
    12CAPT. Thuma, Jack Stewart, USCG (OCS 1946)8 June 1967 - August 1970(WAGB-281)
    13CAPT. Kosky, Harry G., USCG (OCS 1945)August 1970 - June 1971(WAGB-281)
    14LCDR. Martin, George Frederick, USCG (USCGA 1964)June 1971 - June 1974(WAGB-281)
    15CAPT. Morrill, Peter Alvin, USCG (USCGA 1952)June 1974 - February 1976(WAGB-281)
    16CDR. Volkle, Thomas C., USCG (Enlisted/1956)February 1976 - August 1977(WAGB-281)
    17CAPT. Super, Albert Donald, USCG (USCGA 1957)August 1977 - June 1979(WAGB-281)
    18CAPT. Nelson, Robert Theodore, USCG (USCGA 1958) :VADMJune 1979 - July 1981(WAGB-281)
    19CAPT. Phelps, Robert Edwin, USCG (Enlisted/1960)July 1981 - August 1983(WAGB-281)
    20CAPT. Honke, Francis James, USCG (Enlisted/1959)August 1983 - September 1984(WAGB-281)
    21CDR. Danforth, Robert A., USCG (USCGA 1967)September 1984 - July 1985(WAGB-281)
    22LCDR. Turek, William B., USCGJuly 1985 - April 1987(WAGB-281)
    23CAPT. Carey, David Kevin, USCG (USCGA 1962)April 1987 - 29 February 1988(WAGB-281)
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves
    USS Westwind (AGB-6)
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    "A Very Cool Summer"
    "The Zephyr" January 2005, Newsletter of the Westwind Association
    USCG Westwind Decommissioning program", 29 February 1988
    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
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    Last Updated 20 October 2023