Probably the Coast Guard's most famous cutter, the Bear was originally built by Alexander Stephen & Son in Scotland for sailing in northern waters as a whaler and sealer.  Although she was not a true icebreaker, her hull was reinforced for operations in light ice and is therefore a forebear of today's icebreakers.  She was purchased by the U.S. Navy for the Greely Arctic rescue mission in 1884 and was turned over to the Revenue Cutter Service in 1885.  Here she served valiantly in Alaskan waters for over 40 years under the command of many famous captains, including the indomitable Michael Healy.  She was taken back into naval service during World War II and served on the Greenland Patrol.  Ultimately she sank while under tow in 1963.

No caption/photo number; date/photographer unknown.

The Soviets offered the use of their icebreaker Krassin to the U.S. in 1941 and the Coast Guard surveyed her for use in Greenland waters.  She was originally constructed by Vickers and entered service with the Russians in 1917.  Although the Soviets revoked their offer in November, 1941, and she therefore never entered U.S. service, the Coast Guard did obtain information on her design.  That information was utilized in the design and construction of the Wind Class icebreakers.

No caption/photo number; date/photographer unknown.

Although not a true icebreaker, the Northland, launched in 1927, was designed to replace the Bear and operate in Alaskan waters and was therefore a forerunner of today's icebreakers.  Her hull, extensively welded instead of riveted--a novel feature in 1926, was designed to withstand 100 psi, permitting operations in light ice conditions.  She was rigged with two masts for auxiliary power in the event of damage to her single propeller.  The masts were removed in 1936.  G.U. Stewart collection.

Greenland, circa 1944.  Compare with the photo above.  She had quite an active career with the Coast Guard rescuing stranded Army Air Force crewmen in Greenland and attacking German weather stations and supply trawlers.  She was decommissioned in 1946 and sold to the Israeli "underground."  After conversion work she was renamed The Jewish State and ran the British blockade of Palestine transporting Jewish immigrants.  After the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, the Northland, now renamed Matzpen, became the first warship of the new Israeli Navy.  She saw action against Egyptian forces that attacked Israel by sea; shelled Tira and Tyre and then served as a training ship, then a tender to the Israeli motor torpedo boat fleet, and finished her career as an accommodations ship for the port command at Haifa.  She was decommissioned from the Israeli Navy in February, 1962 and sold for scrap.

Eastwind in Greenland waters, 23 March 1945.  The "Winds" were the first class of true icebreakers built by the U.S.  They were heavily armed and carried a Grumman J2F amphibian.  Gibbs & Cox of New York provided the designs with input from the Coast Guard's Naval Engineering Division.  The final design was heavily influenced by studies conducted by then LCDR Edward Thiele of foreign icebreakers, namely the Swedish Ymer and the Soviet Krassin.

Eastwind and Southwind were the only two Wind Class icebreakers to see active service during the war.  Both were involved with the capture of the German trawler Extersteine in Greenland.

Photo No. 01-01-56 (01); 1 January 1956; photo by PH1 Walter Zaborney.

As shown here Eastwind participated in the first Deep Freeze cruise.  These were annual voyages to resupply U.S. bases in Antarctica.  She was also active in cruises through the arctic, resupplyied early-warning bases there as well as in Greenland, became the first cutter to circumnavigate the globe during a 1960-1961 operation, assisted vessels in distress or freed those trapped by ice, circumnavigated the globe again during Operation Deep Freeze '67, and broke ice on the Great Lakes.  She survived a deadly collision with the tanker Gulfstream in 1949 although 13 crewmen perished.  She was decommissioned and sold in 1972.

Photo No. 6082; date/photographer unknown.

The Eastwind became the first cutter to ever circumnavigate the globe in 1960 when she departed Boston on 25 October 1960, transited the Panama Canal, crossed the Pacific Ocean, visited New Zealand and the McMurdo Sound Station, Antarctica, and sailed home via the Indian Ocean.  She sailed through the Suez Canal, the Mediterranean Sea, through the Straits of Gibraltar, and arrived back at Boston in May, 1961.

Photo No. GAPI-01-00-69; 1969; photographer unknown. 

No caption/photo number; date/photographer unknown.

The Glacier was originally a US Navy icebreaker but was transferred and commissioned into the Coast Guard on 30 June 1966 after the Navy decided to give the Coast Guard total responsibility for icebreaker operations.  In fact, the Navy transferred all of their remaining icebreakers to the nation's oldest continuous sea-going service and since that time the Coast Guard has been the sole U.S. military service conducting polar icebreaking cruises. 

Glacier was originally commissioned in 1955 in the US Navy but was transferred to the Coast Guard in 1966.  She was decommissioned in 1987 and was eventually turned into a museum ship.

In the mid 1970's the Coast Guard began painting all of its polar icebreakers' hulls red to make them easier for helicopter pilots to spot in the ice.  The Mackinaw was exempted from the change.

No photo number; 15 July 1944; photographer unknown.  U.S. Coast Guard Photo; 11th Naval District Office, Photographic Section.

After seeing service on the Greenland Patrol, and assisting the Eastwind in capturing the German trawler Externsteine, Southwind was transferred to the Soviet Union on 23 March 1945.  Our Soviet allies renamed her Admiral Mararov ("The father of the modern icebreaker," according to the Soviets).  She served in the Soviet Navy until 1950 when she was returned to the US Navy.  The Navy renamed her Atka, and she once again changed hands in 1966 when the Navy transferred all remaining Navy icebreakers to the Coast Guard.  The Coast Guard christened her Southwind on 18 January 1967.  She remained in service until 1976, when she was decommissioned and sold.

No photo number; December 1970; photographer unknown.

The Burton Island was originally a US Navy icebreaker but she was transferred to the Coast Guard on 15 December 1966.

Burton Island was originally commissioned into the US Navy in 1946 and was transferred to the Coast Guard in 1966.  She remained in service until 1978.

The Edisto was originally a US Navy icebreaker but was transferred to the Coast Guard and commissioned into service on 20 October 1965.  She was decommissioned in 1974.

Photo No. 3778; photo released 10 January 1945; photographer unknown.

The MACKINAW is literally land-locked, her size not permitting her to leave the Great Lakes.  Built of steel, 'Big Mac's' length is 290 ft., beam 74 ft., draft 19 ft., displacement 5,252 tons, maximum speed 16 knots.  A diesel electric power plant delivers 10,000 h.p. through twin screws in the stern and one in the bow.  The bow propeller is employed to churn the water beneath the ice, changing its static buoyancy.  The resulting combined forward and downward motion when the MACKINAW drives its great bow onto the ice makes the icebreaker capable of breaking through 4 feet of solid sheet 'blue' ice.  The MACKINAW has also plowed through 37 ft. of 'windrow' (broken) ice.  It is capable of cutting a channel 70 ft. wide to accommodate the largest of the Great Lakes ore carriers.  

During navigation season, the MACKINAW is used to handle the heaviest buoys on the lakes with the aid of its two 12-ton cranes, to carry fuel and supplies to light stations, to serve as a training ship, and to assist vessels in distress when necessary.  

Built by the Toledo Shipbuilding Co., Ohio, the MACKINAW cost 10 million dollars when completed.  The MACKINAW's keel was laid on March 20, 1943, and the icebreaker was commissioned on December 20, 1944.  Its permanent homeport is Cheboygan, Michigan."  

Photo No. 5772; October 1957; photographer unknown.

The design of the Mackinaw was based on the Wind Class but was wider and longer, modifications that decreased her draft, a necessary precondition for service on the Great Lakes.  Additionally, her hull was made of mild steel.  She was to have been named Manitowoc but the Navy had already assigned that name to a frigate.

Note the HNS-1 Hoverfly on her flight deck.  She was the second Wind Class icebreaker named Northwind.  The first was transferred to the Soviet Union before WAGB-282 was launched.  282 was commissioned in the Coast Guard as the Northwind on 28 July 1945 and stayed in service until she was decommissioned in 1989.

Photo No. 278-010867-01; 28 December 1966; photo by Ken Lane.

The Staten Island was originally named Northwind and was transferred to the Soviet Union on 26 February 1944.  The Soviets named her Severni Veter and later Admiral Makarov .  She was returned to US control and commissioned as a U.S. Navy icebreaker in 1951 and was renamed Northwind.  To avoid confusion with her Coast Guard "sister," WAGB-282, the Navy renamed her Staten Island on 15 April 1952.  

Staten Island was transferred to the Coast Guard and commissioned in the nation's oldest sea service on 1 February 1965 after the Navy decided to cede all icebreaking vessels and all icebreaking responsibilities to the Coast Guard in 1965-1966.   She was decommissioned in 1974 and sold the next year.

Photo No. 89-54 (8 of 9); 29 September 1954; M.T.A.

The Westwind was transferred to the Soviet Union in 1945 and they renamed her Severni Pulius.  She sailed under the Communist flag for six years until the Soviets returned her to the U.S. in 1951.  After being refurbished, the Coast Guard recommissioned her on 22 September 1952 as Westwind once again.  She was decommissioned in 1988.

Photo No. 396-64 (2 of 4); Neg. #081864-23; 18 August 1964; photographer unknown.

Note her new stack, added during an extensive renovation conducted in 1974-1975.  The renovations included the strengthening of her bow and stern areas, replacement of her engines, widening her propeller shaft diameter from 19 to 22 inches, and a new "Icebreaker Red" paint scheme.  She stayed in service for another thirteen years and was formally decommissioned in 1988.

The Polar Class icebreakers were designed to replace the Coast Guard's aging icebreaker fleet but due to budget constraints only two were authorized: WAGB-10 (Polar Star) and WAGB-11 (Polar Sea).  They were both built by the Lockheed Shipbuilding Company of Seattle and both entered service in 1976.  The were designed to break 6.5 feet of ice at 3 knots and could reach a maximum speed in open water of 18 knots.  They were also built with newly designed controllable-pitch propellers that caused some initial problems after they first entered service.  However, these "teething problems" were overcome and in conjunction with USCGC Healy, the Polar Class continue to carry out successfully the Coast Guard's icebreaking missions on the earth's polar regions.

Photo No. 98481

Photo by PA3 Andy Devilbiss, USCG.

The Healy is the largest and heaviest cutter ever designed and built for the Coast Guard.  She can break 4.5 feet of ice at 3 knots and 7.8 feet of ice by backing and ramming.

"CGC HEALY (FOR RELEASE)

Strait of Belle Isle (Apr. 5 [2000])--The Coast Guard Cutter Healy (WAGB 20) enters the ice for the first time just east of Strait of Belle Isle. Our newest WAGB, the Polar Icebreaker/Research Vessel is built by Avondale Industries in New Orleans. USCGC HEALY is named in commemoration of Captain Michael A. Healy, U. S. Revenue Marine. Captain Healy was most notable as the foremost seaman and navigator of his time in the Bering Sea and Alaskan Arctic regions while Commanding Officer of the U. S. Revenue Cutter BEAR from 1886 to 1895."

Photo No. 9584

Photographer not listed.

"COAST GUARD CUTTER HEALY (WAGB 20)(FOR RELEASE)

Labrador Sea, Greenland (May 12 [2000])--The Coast Guard Cutter Healy (WAGB 20) is currently testing its icebreaking capabilities. The test are conducted in a 28ft pressure ridge while sustaining 2.5 knots in 5 1/2 feet of ice."

Photo No. 10841

Photographer not listed.  (Coast Guard Digital Photo)

"COAST GUARD CUTTER HEALY (WAGB 20) (FOR RELEASE)

Near Canada (July 25 [2000])--The Coast Guard Cutter Healy (WAGB 20), in thin ice in the Artic Circle, as observed from one of the ships two helicopters."

Photo No. 95199

Photo by Joe Boyle, PencilNews.com (Coast Guard Digital Photo)

"CUTTER HEALY GOES TO NORTH POLE (FOR RELEASE)

NORTH POLE (Dec. 20, 2002) -- The Coast Guard Cutter Healy's crew poses in front of the cutter after reaching the North Pole Sept. 6. The Healy became only the second U.S. surface ship to reach the North Pole."

Photo No. 228222

Photographer not listed. (Coast Guard Digital Photo)