USS Glacier (AGB-4) in the context of "Bellingshausen Sea"

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⭐ Core Definition: USS Glacier (AGB-4)

USS Glacier (AGB-4) (later USCGC Glacier (WAG/WAGB-4)) was a U.S. Navy, then U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker which served in the first through fifteenth Operation Deep Freeze expeditions. Glacier was the first icebreaker to make her way through the frozen Bellingshausen Sea, and most of the topography in the area is named for her crew members. 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, USS Glacier 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. Glacier is the only icebreaker built in the Glacier class, and was in U.S. Navy service for 11 years, and U.S. Coast Guard service for 21 years.

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USS Glacier (AGB-4) in the context of Iceberg

An iceberg is a piece of fresh water ice more than 15 meters (16 yards) long that has broken off a glacier or an ice shelf and is floating freely in open water. Smaller chunks of floating glacially derived ice are called "growlers" or "bergy bits". Much of an iceberg is below the water's surface, which led to the expression "tip of the iceberg" to illustrate a small part of a larger unseen issue. Icebergs are considered a serious maritime hazard.

Icebergs vary considerably in size and shape. Icebergs that calve from glaciers in Greenland are often irregularly shaped while Antarctic ice shelves often produce large tabular (table top) icebergs. The largest iceberg in recent history, named B-15, was measured at nearly 300 by 40 kilometres (186 by 25 mi) in 2000. The largest iceberg on record was an Antarctic tabular iceberg measuring 335 by 97 kilometres (208 by 60 mi) sighted 240 kilometres (150 mi) west of Scott Island, in the South Pacific Ocean, by the USS Glacier on November 12, 1956. This iceberg was larger than Belgium.

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LINKED FROM (PARENTS)
← Iceberg
LINKS TO (CHILDREN)
Icebreaker → Operation Deep Freeze → Bellingshausen Sea → Glacier Bay → Alaska → Ingalls Shipbuilding → Pascagoula, Mississippi →