Lots of Coast Guard news in the past couple of weeks.
Polar Star completes Deep Freeze ’26
The country’s only polar-rated heavy icebreaker, the 13,500-ton USCGC Polar Star (WAGB 10), some 50 years young, recently departed McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, on 1 March after operating for 55 days below the Antarctic Circle and traveling 14,000 miles in support of Operation Deep Freeze 2026– her 29th such participation in the annual resupply mission.
USCGC Polar Star (WAGB 10) crew members pose for a group photo while the cutter sits hove-to in the Ross Sea during Operation Deep Freeze 2026, Jan. 12, 2026. The cutter turns 50 years old on Jan. 17, 2026, amid Operation Deep Freeze, which is a joint service, inter-agency support operation for the National Science Foundation that manages the United States Antarctic Program. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Christopher Bokum)
Besides saving the iced-in cruise ship Scenic Eclipse III, she busted a seven-mile channel through fast ice to allow the 600-foot fuel tanker Stena Polaris into and out of Winter Quarter’s Bay to deliver more than 6 million gallons of fuel to McMurdo. She later escorted the chartered SS Plantijngracht in with the Army’s Modular Causeway System, as well as the tug Rachel, which carried the new NSF Discovery Pier to McMurdo Station to be installed by Seabees.
Bollinger gets funds for Polar Security Cutter
From DoW contracts:
Bollinger Mississippi Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Mississippi, is awarded a $14,922,120 cost reimbursable contract modification to a previously awarded contract (N00024-19-C-2210) for long lead time material for the Polar Security Cutter land-based test facility and production integration facility. Work will be performed in Pascagoula, Mississippi, and is expected to be completed by September 2027. Fiscal 2025 procurement, construction, and improvement (Coast Guard) funds in the amount of $7,494,138 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity.
Decisive to Sri Lanka
The old 210-foot Reliance-class cutter Decisive will celebrate her 58th birthday in her new home as pennant number P 628 with the Sri Lankan Navy. Decommissioned 1 March 2023, she has spent the past three years at the USCG Yard outside of Baltimore, where she was refirbed and converted for further use. An 86-man (14 officers and 72 sailors) Sri Lankan crew moved last December aboard and have been getting used to their new patrol vessel.
She left Baltimore on 21 February for an estimated 77-day, 14,775-nm cruise to her new home across the Pacific via the Panama Canal with numerous strategically important port calls, ultimately joining four other former U.S. Coast Guard cutters on the Sri Lankan naval list.
The Sri Lankan Embassy in D.C. noted that this cruise will be the “longest single sea voyage ever undertaken by a Sri Lankan naval vessel and will be the first Sri Lankan ship to navigate through the Panama Canal.”
Forward bags Narco Sub, Tampa, a go-fast
The 270-foot Famous (Bear)-class USCGC Forward (WMEC 911)intercepted a self-propelled semi-submersible (SPSS) vessel during a routine patrol on 24 February in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. The 70-foot “narco sub” was filled with an estimated 17,600 lbs. of cocaine, and her four-man crew was taken into custody before the smuggler was deep-sixed.
As usual for JITF South/Fourth Fleet tasking in the region, Forward carried a well-armed HITRON MH-65 Dolphin, which was used to help bag the boat. A P-3C Orion (the Navy still has a couple!) helped with the ISR.
A U.S. Navy P-3 Orion oversees a HITRON MH-65 Dolphin and Coast Guard Cutter Forward Over-the-Horizon boat on scene with a Self-Propelled Semi-Submersible in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, February 24, 2026. (U.S. Navy courtesy photo)
The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Forward’s Over-the-Horizon cutter boat approaches a Self-Propelled Semi-Submersible in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, February 24, 2026. (U.S. Coast Guard courtesy photo)
Forward’s sistership, USCGC Tampa (WMEC 902), similarly just interdicted more than $31.9M in cocaine off a vessel in the Eastern Pacific Ocean as well.
A Coast Guard Cutter Tampa (WMEC 902) small boat crew operates near a go-fast vessel that is sunk following interdiction in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, Feb. 27, 2026, resulting in the apprehension of two suspected narco-terrorists and seizure of approximately 4,244 pounds of cocaine worth more than $31.9 million. The vessel was burned and sunk as a hazard to navigation following the interdiction. (U.S. Coast Guard photo)
Munro back after 26,000-mile cruise spanning Atlantic and Pacific
The Alameda-based 418-foot National Security Cutter Munro returned home last week after 119 days deployed on an Eastern Pacific Patrol that saw her pinch hit in the Atlantic. Leaving home last November with two embarked cutter pursuit boats, Scan Eagle short-range UAV, and a HITRON MH-65 Dolphin, she clocked in on the DoW’s Resolute Hunter exercise offshore San Diego, then Operation Pacific Viper. It was while on Pacific Viper that she interdicted a smuggler with six suspects and 22,052 pounds of cocaine aboard.
The Coast Guard cutter Munro pulls into its home port of Alameda, Calif., after a 119-day patrol, March 1, 2026. The cutter is named in honor of Petty Officer First Class Douglas A. Munro, the only Coast Guardsman awarded the Medal of Honor, for his heroic actions on Sept. 27, 1942, when he sacrificed himself during the defense, rescue and evacuation of 500 stranded Marines from Point Cruz, Guadalcanal, in the Solomon Islands. 260301-G-BB085-1253N
Ordered through the Panama Canal to take part in the asset-poor Operation Southern Spear, Munro located and identified the dark fleet oil tanker Bella 1, a U.S.-sanctioned vessel, determined to be without nationality and subject to U.S. jurisdiction, and pursued the 333-foot crude oil carrier for 18 days and 4,900 miles until the order came to seize her in the North Atlantic.
A crew member assigned to the Coast Guard cutter Munro observes the oil tanker Bella 1 in the North Atlantic Ocean, Jan. 6, 2026. 260106-G-G0100-1002M
Seven Weeks on 154 feet of sovereign U.S. territory
The 154-foot Sentinel (Webber) class fast response cutter William Hart (WPC 1134) returned to Honolulu on 15 March following a 48-day patrol in support of Coast Guard Oceania District’s Operation Blue Pacific. The long-legged patrol boat roamed more than 7,000 nautical miles, making port calls in Apia, Samoa; Rarotonga, Cook Islands; Pago Pago, American Samoa; Nuku’alofa, Tonga; and Kiritimati, Kiribati, showing the flag across the increasingly strategic islands.
U.S. Coast Guardsmen assigned to the fast response cutter USCGC William Hart (WPC 1134) prepare to moor up on Coast Guard Base Honolulu, March 15, 2026. The crew returned from a 48-day patrol in Oceania during which they exercised partnerships with Samoa and the Cook Islands through bilateral maritime law enforcement agreements, professional exchanges, and community engagements. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Chief Petty Officer Corinne Zilnicki)
Importantly, she hosted the signing by a U.S. Deputy Secretary of State and Tonga’s Prime Minister of the new annex to the 2009 bilateral maritime law enforcement agreement between the U.S. and the Kingdom of Tonga.
First three WCCs
The U.S. Coast Guard simultaneously authenticated the keels for future 120-foot Chief Petty Officer class Coast Guard Waterways Commerce cutters: Allen Thiele, Fred Permenter, and Samuel Wilson (WLIC-1601, 1602, and 1603) on Friday at Birdon in Bayou La Batre, Alabama. Unlike many USNS auxiliaries, which carry outrageously political names, the WCCs will all be named for past USCG heroes who were, or later became, Chiefs.
A rendering of the future U.S. Coast Guard Waterways Commerce Cutters Allen Thiele, Fred Permenter, and Samuel Wilson. The new Chief Petty Officer class cutters will honor the legacy of senior enlisted leaders and strengthen the Coast Guard’s inland fleet capabilities. (U.S. Coast Guard courtesy rendering Birdon Group)
The cutters are the first three of 30 future WCCs that will replace the Coast Guard’s elderly inland tender fleet (some up to 81 years old) that maintains and protects the 28,200 navigational aids along the country’s 12,000-mile inshore/river marine transportation system.
Lots of stories from the Coast Guard that you may have missed (as they don’t get much press).
Polar Star Returns
The 48-year-old USCGC Polar Star (WAGB-10) and her crew have returned home to Seatle after a monumental 138-day deployment to Antarctica in support of Operation Deep Freeze 2024.
The crew of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star (WAGB 10) stands on the ice in front of the cutter in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, Dec. 29, 2023. Every year, a joint and total force team works together to complete a successful Operation Deep Freeze season. Active, Guard, and Reserve service members from the U.S. Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, and Navy work together to forge a strong JTF-SFA that continues the tradition of U.S. military support to the United States Antarctic Program. (U.S. Coast Guard photo
During their deployment, the crew traveled over 27,500 miles, navigating through various oceans and breaking through thick Antarctic ice to ensure the delivery of vital supplies, including nine million gallons of fuel and 80 million pounds of cargo, to resupply the United States Antarctic stations, in support of the National Science Foundation (NSF) – the lead agency for the United States Antarctic Program (USAP).
After arriving in Antarctica, the cutter broke a 38-mile channel through fast ice up to 12 feet thick, creating a navigable route for cargo vessels to reach McMurdo Station. The Polar Star and crew executed three close-quarters ice escorts for cargo vessels through difficult ice conditions to guarantee the delivery of nine million gallons of fuel and 80 million pounds of cargo to advance scientific endeavors in the most remote region of the world. The cutter departed the Antarctic region on Feb. 14 after 51 days of operations in support of Operation Deep Freeze 2024.
Harriet Lane Flexes in the Pacific Rim
The 40-year-old 270-foot USCGC Harriet Lane (WMEC 903), the only member of her class deployed to the Pacific, just completed her inaugural 15,000-mile, 79-day Operation Blue Pacific Patrol in Oceania.
Just moved to the Pacific after a 15-month SLEP, it looks like they ditched her old MK75 OTO for a 25mm MK38 Mod 2, which offers better optical fire control but far less punch. At least she still has her AN/SLQ-32 electronic warfare suite that hopefully has been updated to a (V)3 standard, which would allow her to jam. Plus, in theory, she could carry an MH-60.
U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Harriet Lane (WMEC 903) crew renders honors to the Battleship Missouri Memorial as the Harriet Lane and crew return to home port in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, April 9, 2024. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Senior Chief Petty Officer Charly Tautfest)
Based now in Hawaii, Harriet Lane and crew “partnered alongside allies and several Pacific Island countries from January to April 2024. Among those countries were Samoa, Fiji, Vanuatu, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Nauru and Marshall Islands. The focus was on advising and sharing best practices, along with bolstering our partners’ capabilities to promote and model good maritime governance in the region.”
Throughout the deployment, Bertholf led international engagements in the Republic of Singapore, Malaysia, and India, strengthening interoperability and maritime governance through joint at-sea exercises, professional engagements, and subject matter expert exchanges.
U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Bertholf (WMSL 750) transits near the Singapore Straits, on Feb. 29, 2024. The Bertholf is a 418-foot National Security Cutter currently deployed to the Indo-Pacific region under the tactical control of the U.S. 7th Fleet. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer Steve Strohmaier)
Meanwhile, in the 4th Fleet AOR…
Coast Guard Reserve crews from three Port Security Units (PSU) will be conducting exercise “Poseidon’s Domain” along the northeast and eastern coasts of Puerto Rico from April 8 to April 25. The exercise will train crews from PSUs 305, 307, and 309 on Coast Guard Reserve PSU functions in support of national defense and homeland security missions.
The company-sized units deployed– with their boats and equipment– via USCG HC-130s, which is cool.
The PSU training events will include boat operations, unmanned aerial system operations, and Life Support Area establishment. PSU crews will also work with the U.S. Army Reserve 432nd Transportation Company, U.S. Customs and Border Protection-Air and Marine Operations Fajardo Maritime Unit, Maritime Surveillance Division FURA and Policía de Puerto Rico Distrito Vieques to enhance joint maritime security capabilities in the region.
Finally, an embarked USCG Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET) aboard the elderly Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Leyte Gulf (CG 55) recently intercepted three different vessels while on patrol in the Caribbean Sea under USSOUTHCOM/JIATF-South orders.
One of the vessels, it should be pointed out, was a narco sub (self-propelled semi-submersible drug smuggling vessel), which then became the subject of a SINKEX.
240322-G-N3764-1001 ATLANTIC OCEAN (March 22, 2024) – The Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Leyte Gulf (CG 55), embarked U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET) and Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 50 work together to intercept a self-propelled semi-submersible drug smuggling vessel (SPSS), in the Atlantic Ocean, March 22, 2024. Leyte Gulf is on a scheduled deployment in the U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command area of operations, employed by the U.S. Fourth Fleet to support joint and combined military operations, which include counter-illicit drug trafficking missions in the Caribbean and the Atlantic. (U.S. Coast Guard Courtesy Photo/Released)
The Coast Guard’s only heavy icebreaker, USCGC Polar Star (WAGB 10), earlier this month departed to support the annual joint military service mission called Operation Deep Freeze (OpDFrz or ODF), a mission that involves traveling to Antarctica to break miles of ice up to 21 feet thick in the regular push to resupply McMurdo Station.
Deep Freeze I was held back in 1955-56 and involved a full task force (TF43) under RADM Richard E. Byrd himself, consisting of three (well-armed) icebreakers, three freighters, and three tankers.
With that in mind, check out this great shot of the “First Antarctic Pistol Tournament,” held during Deep Freeze II, some 65 years ago.
Original caption: “The U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Northwind (WAGB-282) sponsors the first pistol tournament ever held in the Antarctic (January 20, 1957).”
Note Northwind’s twin 5″/38 DP mount. Commissioned 28 July 1945, “The Grand Old Lady of the North” had a 44-year career, a span of time recently bested by Polar Star, which celebrated her 46th anniversary earlier this year. Photo: National Archives NAID: 205581182
From the back of the image:
Chilled thumbs pull the triggers at targets lined up in ice 7 feet thick at Helleric Sound. Probably the most unusual setting in the history of match shooting, this was one of those rare Antarctic days with the atmosphere crystal clear, the temperature hovering around 26 degrees, a light breeze of six knots bloating down from the ranges of Victoria Land. The intensity of the sun’s reflection on the snow makes it necessary for the shooters to wear dark gloves. Competitors were divided into groups, of Old-Timers and TYROs. Old-Timers included all NRA (National Rifle Association) card holders handicapped according to their classifications. TYRO entries were limited to non-NRA members who had qualified with the .45 caliber pistol over Services qualification courses. At this time the Northwind lay moored at McMurdo Sound where she had been helping the Navy cargo ship Towle (visible at the stern of the icebreaker) unload cargo for the Williams Air Operation Facility located five miles away.
A close-up detail shows the firing line equipped with what look to be new Smith & Wesson Model 41s or, more likely, High Standard Victors, both popular with Bullseye target shooters of the era for 25 and 50m work.
Original caption: “The Coast Guard icebreaker Westwind (WAGB-281, ex-Severni Pulius, ex-AGB-6), left, receives personnel and cargo from her disabled sister ship the Eastwind (WAGB-279), right, as they lay moored in Kane Basin north of Thule, Greenland. Enroute to Weather Station Alert with supplies, the Eastwind suffered damage to her starboard propeller blade and a hole in her forepeak while maneuvering to break through heavy Polar floes driving the ship toward shore. The Westwind went to the assistance of the Eastwind and undertook the attempt to reach Alert. The two Coast Guard icebreakers accompanied a Navy Task Force Group on the 1954 joint U.S. Canadian resupply mission to far northern weather stations in the Arctic.”
Note the WWII-era Higgins type LCVP between the two icebreakers and a second one on Westwind’s davits. USCG Photo via the National Archives (205581260)
If you look carefully, you will also see the uniqueness that is a trio of H-13 Sioux (Bell Model 47) type helicopters on the breakers’ decks, with one on Westwind and two on Eastwind. The USCG purchased three up-engined Navy HTL-4 variants (dubbed HTL-5s) in 1952 and used them through 1960, with all three likely seen in the above image. They, as with other helicopters since the 1940s, proved useful in scouting paths through the ice fields.
With their full “soap bubble” canopies, the Korean War-era whirlybirds are instantly recognizable to fans of “MASH.” Between the HTL-5s and similar variants, the service used eight Bell 47s, redesignated HH-13s, as late as 1968.
Both of the above Windswere laid down during WWII– with Westwind serving with the Soviets as Lend-Lease for six years– and would continue in their role of crushing it in the polar regions for decades after the above image was snapped.
“Ice Breaker Penetrating the Ice Pack” Painting, Watercolor on Paper; by Standish Backus; 1956; “Pack ice is composed of massed fragments of sea ice drifting with wind and current. Modern Icebreakers such as Glacier, Edisto and Eastwind normally transit such ice fields without difficulty or loss of speed. However, thinned-skinned vessels must be protected from ice pressures against their hulls. This may be accomplished by leading the escorted vessel through the dangerous areas with its bow lashed firmly into the notched stern of the icebreaker. Here Eastwind is represented towing YOG-34 through the Ross Sea pack, while overhead one of the helicopters scouts the ice conditions.” –Commander Standish Backus. Unframed Dimensions 22H X 30W Accession #: 88-186-BH.
Eastwind, which had captured the German trawler Externsteine during the “Weather War” in Greenland, an event that went down in history as one of the last enemy vessels seized by an American prize crew, decommissioned early Dec 1968 and was slowly scrapped in New Jersey– a fate worse than death.
Westwind was the next to last of her class decommissioned, serving until 1988, at which point she had 43 years under her belt (under two different flags). Plans to keep America’s last WWII-era icebreaker as a museum ship never firmed up and she was, like her sisters, recycled.
Warship Wednesday, August 4, 2021: The Grand Old Lady of the North
USCG Photo, National Archives & Record # 26-G-5608
As today is the 231st birthday of the founding of what today is known as the U.S. Coast Guard, you knew this was coming! Here we see the floating football that is the Wind-class Coast Guard icebreaker Northwind (WAG/WAGB-282) mustering up all available power from her six engines to penetrate a pressure ridge in the Bearing Sea during the winter season, July 1953. Note her twin 5″/38 mount forward and her Hedgehog ASW system at the platform under the bridge. Pretty stout armament for an iceboat, but we’ll get into that.
How the “Winds” came to blow
When World War II started, the U.S. Navy was up to the proverbial frozen creek as far as icebreaking went. While some foreign powers (the Soviets) really liked the specialized ships, Uncle Sam did not share the same opinion. However, this soon changed in 1941 when the U.S., even before Pearl Harbor, accepted Greenland and Iceland to their list of protected areas. Now, tasked with having to keep the Nazis out of the frozen extreme North Atlantic/Arctic and the Japanese out of the equally chilly North Pac/Arctic region (anyone heard of the Aleutians?), the Navy needed ice-capable ships yesterday.
The old (read= broken down) 6,000-ton British-built Soviet icebreaker Krassin was studied in Bremerton Washington by the Navy and Coast Guard. Although dating back to the Tsar, she was still at the time the most powerful icebreaker in the world. After looking at this ship and the Swedish icebreaker Ymer, the U.S. began work on the Wind-class, the first U.S. ships designed and built specifically as icebreakers.
Set up with an extremely thick (over an inch and a half) steel hull, these ships could endure repeated ramming against hard pack ice. Just in case the hull did break, there were 15-inches of cork behind it, followed by a second inner hull. Now that is serious business. These ships were so hardy that one, USCGC Westwind (WAGB 281), almost 30 years after she joined the fleet, was heavily damaged by ice in the Antarctic’s Weddell Sea. About 120 feet of the port-side hull was gashed when brash ice forced the ship against a 100-foot sheer ice shelf. The gash was two to three feet wide and was six feet above the waterline. The crew patched the side, there were no injuries, and the breaker returned home under her own power.
At over 6,000-tons, these ships were bulky for their short, 269-foot hulls. They were also bathtub-shaped, with a 63-foot beam. For those following along at home, that’s a 1:4 length to beam ratio. Power came from a half-dozen mammoth Fairbanks-Morse 10-cylinder diesel engines that both gave the ship a lot of power on demand, but also an almost unmatched 32,000-mile range (not a misprint, that is 32-thousand). For an idea of how much that is, a Wind-class icebreaker could sail at an economical 11-knots from New York to Antarctica, and back, on the same load of diesel…twice.
A photo of USCGC Eastwind, circa 1944. Note how beamy these ships were. The twin 5-inch mounts on such a short hull make her seem extremely well-armed. USCG Photo
To help them break the ice, the ship had a complicated system of water ballasting, capable of moving hundreds of tons of water from one side of the ship to the other in seconds, which could rock the vessel from side to side in addition to her thick hull and powerful engines. A bow-mounted propeller helped chew up loose ice and pull the ship along if needed.
With a war being on, they just weren’t about murdering ice, but being able to take the fight to polar-bound Axis ships and weather detachments as well. For this, they were given a pair of twin 5″/38 turrets, a dozen 40mm Bofors AAA guns, a half dozen 20mm Oerlikons, as well as depth charge racks and various projectors, plus the newfangled Hedgehog device to slay U-boats and His Imperial Japanese Majesty’s I-boats. Weight and space were also reserved for a catapult-launched and crane-recovered seaplane. Space for an extensive small arms locker, to equip landing parties engaged in searching remote frozen islands and fjords for radio stations and observation posts, rounded out the design.
Two of the class, Eastwind and Southwind, operated against teams of German scientists and military personnel who attempted to establish weather stations in remote areas of Greenland late in the war.
As noted by the USCG Historian’s Office on this chapter of “The Weather War,”:
On 4 October 1944 Eastwind captured a German weather station on Little Koldewey Island and 12 German personnel. On 15 October 1944 Eastwind captured the German trawler Externsteine and took 17 prisoners. The trawler was renamed East Breeze and a prize crew sailed her to Boston.
Our Wind
Northwind was ordered from Western Pipe & Steel Co., Los Angeles, (Builder’s Number CG-184) for $9,880,037 and her keel was laid 10 July 1944, the same week the Allies were fighting for Saint-Lo in France and Saipan in the Pacific. Impressively, she was finished in 54 weeks, commissioning 28 July 1945, just a fortnight before the Japanese threw in the towel. As such, her war service was negligible.
Original caption: Preparing for Arctic Cruise, 1946. Especially rigged and outfitted for its arctic cruise, the Coast Guard Icebreaker Northwind, is shown in New York Harbor before she sailed last spring. The helicopter, which is proving valuable in the work in hand, needs only a small “platform” on which to take off or land and both operations can be carried on while the vessel is steaming at full speed. NARA 26-G-4936
Shown here just before leaving to participate in the Navy expedition to the North Pole, the Coast Guard Cutter Northwind lies at anchor in New York’s harbor, June 26, 1946. Note the NYC skyline to include the Empire State Building. NARA 26-G-4937
Then came a deployment in the form of Operation Nanook, under the command of Captain Richard Cruzen. The destination: Greenland and the Canadian Arctic, where Northwind would field the first helicopter seen in that part of the world.
The task force was made up of two Navy AK transports modified for sub-zero operations, fully equipped to construct the stations. In addition, the Seaplane tender USS Norton Sound, with two PBM seaplanes, was part of the Taskforce as was the submarine Atule which conducted tests and carried out operations under the ice in Baffin Bay and to the north. The wooden-hulled net tender Whitewood was used as a survey ship. The Coast Guard ice breaker Northwind joined the group north of the arctic circle providing escort and navigation through the ice fields. The Northwind had on board an HNS helicopter piloted by Coast Guard Aviation Pilot 1/c John Olsen. This was a precursor of things to come in polar operations.
Sikorsky HNS-1 helicopter, CGNR 39047, lifts off from the deck of USCGC Northwind on 1 September 1946, during Operation Nanook. Note insignia of what appears to be an Eskimo girl seated astride a polar bear, with the words “Arctic Annie.” Photograph by Photographer’s Mate Second Class P.R. Zimmerman, USN. 80-G-636441
Inset of the Sikorsky’s insignia.
In November 1946, Capt. Charles Ward Thomas, the famed skipper of her sistership USCGC Eastwind during the Weather War with the Germans, assumed command of Northwind. During the Thomas years, Northwind would participate in Operation High Jump, the fourth Byrd expedition to the Antarctic, and subject of the Academy Award-winning motion picture, “The Secret Land.”
Highjump and the follow-on Windmill operation in 1947-48 to this day were the largest naval task forces to operate in Antarctica, consisting of 13 ships including an aircraft carrier and 33 aircraft. Many crackpot legends hold it was to scout out possible secret Nazi bases in the region where Hitler, who was still thought missing at the time, may have escaped to via U-boat.
Northwind spearhead of the expedition, clearing the way through the Ross Sea ice pack for Navy cargo ships. For the mission, she carried both a Grumman J2F Duck floatplane and a whirlybird.
Original caption: Coast Guard ‘Copter Scouts for Leads. From the deck of the Coast Guard Icebreaker Northwind, the ship’s helicopter takes off, to look for the “leads” in the ice packs, into which the super ice crusher can smash her way, opening a passage for the thin-hulled vessels of the Byrd Antarctic Expedition. Here the Northwind is followed by the Merrick, Yancey, and the Mt. Olympus. The ‘copter proved of special value, being able to hover and study ice conditions for the benefit of the Northwind’s skipper.” 1/1/1947 NARA 26-G-5024
Sikorsky HNS-1 helicopter, CGNR 39043, landing on the deck of USS Northwind (WAG-282) on 2 January 1947. 80-G-612006
It was during Highjump that Northwind successfully completed the first major rescue mission involving a submarine, freeing USS Sennet (SS-408) along with the supply ships Yance and Merrick, who were stuck in a thick ice flow in the Antarctic Circle.
USS Sennet (SS-408), needing a hand during Operation High Jump
7 January 1947- Operation Highjump, Coast Guard icebreaker NORTHWIND completed the first rescue mission involving a submarine. USS Sennet (SS-408) supply ships Yance and Merrick
Original caption: “The Northwind Hits It! The Antarctic. The World of Ice. With her diesel-electric motors, with power ranging up to 10,000, going full blast, the Coast Guard’s icebreaker Northwind charges the ice pack at top speed. Following the terrific crash, the Northwind rides half a ship’s length up onto the ice before she is stopped. She backs away and charges again and again until the area is broken up and ready for the thin-hulled vessels which follow her. This arduous duty of the Northwind was a day after day routine, as her part of the work of the Byrd Expedition to the Antarctic. This photo was taken from the Northwind’s helicopter, which proved so valuable in scouting out loads in the ice, far in advance of the ships.” 1/5/1947. Note the J2F Duck on her deck. NARA 26-G-03-18-47(7)
On 15 January 1947, Northwind’s chopper made the first helicopter flight to the base “Little America” in Antarctica. The pilot was LT James A. Cornish, USCG and he carried Chief Photographer’s Mate Everett Mashburn as his observer.
Icebreaker USS Northwind (AGB-5) cuts across the bow of USS Mount Olympus (AGC-8) to clear a path for her, through pack ice off the Ross Sea, Antarctica 1947-02-28 L45-209.06.01.
Original caption: Cargo being transferred from the USS Philippine Sea to the Coast Guard Ice-Breaking Cutter Northwind, on Operation Highjump, the Navy’s venture of exploration to the Antarctic. The Coast Guard Ice-Breaker has the task of opening lanes through heavy ice when other vessels with thinner plating could not force their way through. NARA 26-G-5062
Stationed in Seattle from 1947 to 1973, she fell into a cycle of polar ice operations, alternating trips from the Arctic to the Antarctic. In 1948, with the Northwind, Captain Thomas re-established the annual Bering Sea Patrol, which had been discontinued during the war, conducting the first such patrol in eight years, and compiled an oceanographic report of the waters navigated in the Bering Sea and the Arctic Ocean.
Northwind’s crew, by nature of the cutter’s work, saw some amazing things.
Original caption: “The Antarctic. The World of Ice. Desert of Death. Seldom indeed has the eye of man looked at this bleak desert of ice. This is a tiny portion of the limitless icepack that stands guard around the Antarctic continent. The Coast Guard’s icebreaker Northwind smashes its way into the virgin ice, making a passage for the thin-hulled vessels which made up the central group of the Byrd Expedition to the Antarctic.” 1/11/1947. NARA 26-G-03-18-47(11)
Original caption: “Bering Sea Patrol, its scenery on the grand scale for the Northwind as she roses into an Alaskan fjord. Views rivaling the ethereal beauty of the Alps, are typical of the stale and abound fringed coasts of Alaska.” 11/14/1948 NARA 26-G-5300
Original caption: The Artist is Mother Nature – On a refueling mission in Alaskan waters, the U.S. Coast Guard Icebreaker Northwind (WAGB-282) passes snow-capped Mt. Shishaldin in this picturesque scene, taken on the Bering Sea side of the Aleutian Islands. Mt. Shishaldin is one of 80 active volcanoes in the Aleutians. 11/26/1950 NARA 26-G-5477
Her Cold War career (see what I did there) consisted largely of a series of Operation Deep Freeze resupply missions to the Antarctic, alternating with Bering Sea patrols with the latter including missions to install and support the Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line.
Original caption: Postman Artic Style. Swooping down over the ice, a Coast Guard PBY from the Air Detachment at Kodiak, Alaska, makes an aerial pick-up of the Northwind’s mail. Note the plane’s tailhook, poised to snatch the line. The postman had to ring only once. On the first attempt, he hooked the line from which the mailbag was suspended. Members of the Northwind’s crew crouch on the ice as they steady the vertical poles which hold the line. 7/12/1953. NARA 26-G-5613
Northwind and USS Glacier (AGB-4), the Navy’s last icebreaker, working ice during the winter 1953 Bearing Sea Expedition. Original caption: “In this solid field of ice in the Bering Sea, the two icebreakers try a tandem method of breaking ice. Ramming, backing, and ramming again, the vessels try forcing their wayside by side in a parallel line.” NARA 26-G-5609
McClure Strait and CGC Northwind. 13 August 1954 – The USCGC Northwind breaks the west-to-east entrance to previously impassable McClure Strait, the ice-locked western entrance to the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic. Pushing along the southern edge of the Strait, the icebreaker heads toward Mercy Bay, about halfway to Banks Island. The U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Northwind, commanded by Captain William L. Maloney, USCG, made the first passage through McClure Strait from west to east between August 13 – 21, 1954. The Navy icebreaker USS Burton Island, commanded by Comdr. Everett Trickey, USN, executed the first passage through the Strait from east to west between August 11 – 16. Both ships accomplished the historical fete while conducting oceanographic and hydrographic surveys in the Beaufort Sea and McClure Strait areas on a Joint U.S. – Canadian Expedition participated in by scientists from both countries. The U.S. ships were the first to push through McClure Strait, connecting the Arctic Ocean and Viscount Melville Sound. McClure Strait was the only link left unconquered by explorers who for more than 450 years sought the famed Northwest Passage route between the Atlantic and the Pacific. The ships left San Diego on July 12 and returned to Seattle on September 29, 1954. NARA 26-G-5676
The 269-foot cutter also performed standard Alaska patrol tasks, such as holding “floating courts” that roamed from port to port and providing a modicum of military presence in far-away towns as needed.
Original caption: “This is the main street of the far northern little frontier-like town of Nome, Alaska, on the 4th of July 1955. Natives and Servicemen watch a parade that shows a group of sailors from the Coast Guard icebreaker Northwind marching. The icebreaker was at Nome from July 1 to 6, en route to the Arctic with a Navy Pacific Task Force on last summer’s Military Sea Transportation Service’s sealift operations for the “Dew Line” (Distance Early Warning) radar stations. Leaving Seattle July 16 this year for the summer “Dew Line” operations, the Northwind’s crew will not be at Nome to participate in holiday celebrations.” NARA 26-G-5732
USCGC Northwind in Antarctic waters, 16 December 1956. K-21429.
USCGC Northwind and USS Glacier (AGB-4) in Antarctic waters, 26 December 1956. K-21428.
Crew members from U.S. Coast Guard Icebreaker Northwind (WAGB-282) hold the first pistol tournament ever held in the Antarctic (January 10, 1957). Chilled thumbs pulled the triggers at targets lined up at McMurdo Sound. During the tournament, a light breeze blew down some of the targets. USNS Private John R. Towle (T-AK-240), a U.S. Navy cargo ship, lies to the back. Operation Deep Freeze was from December 1956 to April 1957. Official U.S. Coast Guard Photograph.
Original caption: “A closeup view from the stern of the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Northwind shows all four sections and the weatherproof door of her new telescopic helicopter hanger. The aluminum hanger is 67 ft. long, 23 ft. wide, and 21 ft. high. These measurements are gauged with the size of the Coast Guard’s largest helicopter in use – the gas turbine HH-52A “flying boat” helicopter. The icebreaker Northwind which is based in Seattle and works in the frigid Arctic region most of her time is the first American ship to carry this type of hangar. It was previously developed and used by the Canadian Ministry of Transport, however, here, the Northwind is carrying the hangar on an extended mission into the Bering Sea and the Arctic where it will undergo initial cold weather experiments.” 6/17/1963. NARA 26-G-6034
Original caption: “A starboard broadside view of the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Northwind shows her newly installed telescopic helicopter hanger in the closed extended position. The icebreaker is seen here en-route to the Bering Sea and the Arctic on an extended mission which will keep her away from her homeport in Seattle for a few months. During that time the hanger will receive initial experience in colder weather operations.” 6/17/1963 NARA 26-G-6033
In 1965, Northwind pulled another “first.” That July, she conducted an oceanographic survey between Greenland, Iceland, and Scotland and was the first Western vessel to operate in the Kara Sea off the Soviet Union.
Between 1966 and 1989, Northwind hosted a series of Icebreaker Support Section (IBSEC) deployments, each consisting of a pair of Sikorsky HH-52A Seaguards, which picked up a red (officially orange) paint scheme.
USCGC Northwind (WAGB-282) in the ice, circa 1967. Note her retracted hangar with an HH-52 tail poking out. The second Sea Guardian is likey the aircraft taking the photo. Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1977. NH 85275.
USCGC Northwind (WAGB-282) nighttime photo, in the ice, circa 1967. Note her extended hangar. Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson. NH 85274.
Between 9 June and 22 September 1969, Northwind transited 14,000 miles from the Bering Sea through the Northwest Passage then made it back to Seattle via the same route, the first vessel to conduct both a West-to-East and East-to-West transit of the Northwest Passage in a single season.
From 1973 to 1975 Northwind underwent extensive machinery modernization and electronic modification at the Coast Guard Yard at Curtis Bay, Maryland, which included landing the rest of her WWII-era heavy armament (she still had a small arms locker and four stowed .50 cal M2s) and picking up the familiar red-hull seen on today’s American icebreakers.
USCGC Northwind breaking ice at Winter Quarters Bay January 1977 via Antarctica New Zealand.
From 1978 to 1989, Northwind was stationed at Wilmington, North Carolina, and used for general ice-breaking, including in the Great Lakes, which her lack of fixed gun mounts kept her under Canadian treaty restrictions. Rather than Bering Sea cruises, she alternated Deep Freeze trips with Arctic East cruises, sailing in Baffin Bay and supporting Thule AFB in Greenland with side trips to Iceland and Norway.
Operation Deep Freeze 80. Antarctica. From left to right, the icebreakers USCGC Glacier (WAGB 4), Northwind (WAGB 282), and Polar Sea (WAGB 11) moored in the ice below Mount Erebus. Photographed by PH2 Jeff Hilton. January 5, 1980. 428-GX-K-129186.
Northwind, 1982, Inglefield Bredning, Greenland Tracy Glacier in the background
Clocking in on the war on drugs at a time when the service was hull poor, on 4 November 1984 Northwind seized the P/C Alexi I off Jamaica for carrying 20 tons of marijuana, becoming the first icebreaker to make a large narcotics seizure.
USCGC Northwind in Baffin Bay on 10 July 1986. USCG Photo.
It was during her 1986 cruise that Northwind assisted in a joint Denmark-U.S. relocation operation, shuttling arctic musk ox around Greenland via her Sea Guards, likely another first.
Seamen move a crated musk ox into position aboard the US Coast Guard icebreaker Northwind (WAGB 282) during a joint Denmark-US relocation operation, 7/10/1986. Note her WWII-era wooden decks and the sex orientation markings on the crates. TSgt Jose Hernandez. DFST8708199
An HH-52A Sea Guard helicopter from the US Coast Guard icebreaker Northwind (WAGB 282) airlifts a crated musk ox to its new habitat during a joint Denmark-US relocation operation, 7/10/1986. TSgt Jose Hernandez. DFST8708196
Northwind outlived her seven sisters. Weather War vets Eastwind and Southwind/Atka, along with the former Navy-owned Staten Island, Burton Island, and Edisto were all scrapped in the 1970s. In the Frozen North, the Canadian Coast Guard’s CCGS Labrador lingered until 1987. Only USCGC Westwind (WAGB-281), who had served the Soviets for six years under Lend-Lease as Severni Polius (North pole), endured, surviving another decade on the salvaged parts of her sisters.
Northwind, “The Grand Old Lady of the North,” was decommissioned on 20 January 1989, just shy of 44 years with the service and 11 months after Westwind was taken out of service. She had no less than 27 skippers and never saw a period of mothballs until she was shipped off in 1990.
After a decade floating in the James River, ex-Northwind was scrapped at International Shipbreakers, Port of Brownsville, Texas in 1999.
Epilogue
Like Northwind, the other members of her class pulled down several “firsts.” For instance, USCGC Eastwind (WAGB-279) was the first Coast Guard cutter of any type to circumnavigate the globe after departing Boston on 25 October 1960 bound for Antarctica and arriving back in Boston 5 May 1961. This was followed up by a similar Antarctic summer cruise by her sistership, USCGC Southwind (WAGB-280) [ex-USS Atka (AGB-3)] in 1968-1969.
A bell from Cutter Northwind, perhaps from our icebreaker, is on display behind the Highland County Historical Society building in Hillsboro, Ohio, a town that made such bells for the Navy and Coast Guard.
She is remembered in maritime art in the USCG’s collection.
“Northwind” by David Rosenthal. The icebreaker Northwind breaks a pressure ridge in the permanent polar ice pack on its last mission before decommissioning. The mission was to break a path through the ice for the research vessel “PolarBjorn” as far north as possible.
“Arctic Cutter” by Ellen Leelike. The Coast Guard icebreaker Northwind is shown at work doing its specialty.
With the Coast Guard building a new class of Polar Security Cutters, basically modernized and better-armed icebreakers, it would be nice if they brought the old “Wind” names back.
Specs:
Winds, 1946 Jane’s entry
Winds, 1973 Jane’s entry
Displacement: 6,515 tons (1945) Length: 269 ft oa Beam: 63 ft 6 in Draft: 25 ft 9 in max Installed power (1945): 6 × Fairbanks-Morse model 8-1/8OP, 10-cylinder opposed-piston engines at 2,000 shp (1,500 kW), each driving a Westinghouse DC electric generator. Propulsion: (1945) 2 × Westinghouse Electric DC electric motors driving the 2 aft propellers, 1 × 3,000 shp (2,200 kW) Westinghouse DC electric motor driving the detachable and seldom-used bow propeller. Propulsion (1973): Four 3,000 horsepower DeLaval diesel engines, two GE electric motors Speed: Top speed: 13.4 knots (1967) Economic speed: 11.6 knots Range: 32,485 nautical miles Complement: 21 officers, 295 men (1944) 13 officers, 2 warrants, 160 men (Post-1967 USCG service) 14 officers, 137 crew + room for 12 scientists and 14 AvDet personnel (Post 1975) Sensors and processing systems: Radar: SA-2, SL-1 (1944, removed 1949) SPS-10B; SPS-53A; SPS-6C (1967) Sonar: QCJ-8 (1944-45) Armament:
(1946) 4 × 5″/38 (twin mounts) 12 × 40mm/60 (3 quad mounts) 6 × 20mm/80 (single mounts) 2 × depth charge tracks 6 × “K” guns 1 Hedgehog M2 Browning machine guns and small arms (1944) Aircraft carried: 1 Grumman J2F Seaplane, later two helicopters in telescoping hangar
(1967) 1 x5″/38 single mount 20mm Mk 16 cannons (singles)
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Warship Wednesday October 12, 2016: The sometimes frosty but always dedicated Forster
Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval History and Heritage Command. Catalog #: NH 55886
Here we see the Edsall-class destroyer escort USS Forster (DE/DER-334/WDE-434) underway at the narrows in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, with her crew at quarters, circa 1958-1962. She would be one of the longest serving destroyer escorts of her time, and filled a myriad of roles over her span under several flags.
A total of 85 Edsall-class destroyer escorts were cranked out in four different yards in the heyday of World War II rapid production with class leader USS Edsall (DE-129) laid down 2 July 1942 and last of class USS Holder (DE-401) commissioned 18 January 1944– in all some four score ships built in 19 months. The Arsenal of Democracy at work–building tin cans faster than the U-boats and Kamikazes could send them to Davy Jones.
These 1,590-ton expendable escorts were based on their predecessors, the very successful Cannon-class boats but used an FMR type (Fairbanks-Morse reduction-geared diesel drive) propulsion suite whereas the only slightly less prolific Cannons used a DET (Diesel Electric Tandem) drive. Apples to oranges.
Armed with enough popguns (3×3″/50s, 2x40mm, 8x20mm) to keep aircraft and small craft at bay, they could plug a torpedo into a passing enemy cruiser from one of their trio of above-deck 21-inch tubes, or maul a submarine with any number of ASW weapons including depth charges and Hedgehogs. Too slow for active fleet operations (21-knots) they were designed for coastal patrol (could float in just 125-inches of seawater), sub chasing and convoy escorts.
The hero of our story, USS Forster, is the only ship named for Machinist Edward W. Forster, a resident of the District of Columbia who was a posthumous recipient of the Purple Heart for his actions on the doomed heavy cruiser USS Vincennes (CA-44) lost at the Battle of Savo Island, 9 August 1942.
The ship was laid down at Consolidated Steel Corporation, Orange, Texas 31 August 1943 and, a scant 73-days later, the war baby was born and commissioned into the fleet, LCDR I. E. Davis, USNR, in command.
According to DANFS, she went immediately into her designed field of study and proved adept at it:
Beginning her convoy escort duty in the Atlantic Forster sailed from Norfolk 23 March 1944 in a convoy bound for Bizerte. Off the North African coast 11 April, her group came under heavy attack from German bombers, several of which Forster splashed. When a submarine torpedoed sistership USS Holder (DE-401) during the air attack, Forster stood by the stricken ship, firing a protective antiaircraft cover and taking off her wounded.
Coming to the Battle of the Atlantic late in the game, Forster made six more voyages across the Atlantic to escort convoys to Bizerte, England, and France. Between these missions, she served as school ship for pre-commissioning crews and gave escort services along the east coast and to Bermuda.
With the war in Europe over, she sailed for the Pacific in July 1945, arriving just in time for occupation duty in the Western Pacific, primarily escort assignments between the Marianas and Japan in the last part of the year. Leaving for Philadelphia just after Christmas, she was, like most DEs, of little use to the post-war Navy.
Forster, winner of one battlestar, was decommissioned and placed in reserve at Green Cove Springs, 15 June 1946.
The Korean War brought a need for some more hulls and, in an oddball move, 12 Edsall-class destroyer escorts were taken from red lead row and dubbed “WDEs” by the Coast Guard starting in 1950. These boats were not needed for convoy or ASW use but rather as floating weather stations with an embarked 5-man met team armed with weather balloons.
During the Korean War, four new weather stations were set up in the Pacific from 1950-54 to support the high volume of trans-Pacific military traffic during that period. Two were northeast of Hawaii and two were in the Western Pacific.
Forster’s sister, the Edsall-class USS Durant (DE-389/WDE-489/DER-389) in her Coast Guard livery. Note the WWII AAA suite is still intact. Forster carried the same white and buff scheme
According to the Coast Guard Historians Office, our subject became USCGC Forster (WDE-434) when she was turned over to the service on 20 June 1951. Converted with a balloon inflation shelter and weather office, she served on ocean station duty out of Honolulu and proved a literal lifesaver.
This included duty on stations VICTOR, QUEEN, and SUGAR and voyages to Japan. She also conducted SAR duties, including finding and assisting the following vessels in distress: the M/V Katori Maru on 17 August 1952, assisting the M/V Chuk Maru on 29 August 1953, the M/V Tongshui on 1-3 October 1953, and the M/V Steel Fabricator on 26 October 1953.
Although excellent wartime escorts, the DEs were rough riding and not generally favored as ocean station vessels. All were returned to the Navy in 1954.
Forster was picked to become a radar picket ship, and given a new lease on life, recommissioned into the Navy at Long Beach, Calif., 23 October 1956 as DER-331.
The DER program filled an early gap in the continental air defense system by placing a string of ships as sea-based radar platforms to provide a distant early warning line to possible attack from the Soviets. The Pacific had up to 11 picket stations while the Atlantic as many as nine. A dozen DEs became DERs (including Forster) through the addition of SPS-6 and SPS-8 air search radars to help man these DEW lines as the Atlantic Barrier became operational in 1956 and the Pacific Barrier (which Forster took part of) in 1958.
To make room for the extra topside weight of the big radars, they gave up most of their WWII armament, keeping only their Hedgehog ASW device and two Mark 34 3″ guns with aluminum and fiberglass weather shields.
Gone were the 3″50 cal Mark 22s…(Photo via Forster Veteran’s Group)
Detail of masts. Note the WWII AAA suite, one of the 3″ guns, and centerline 21-inch tubes have been landed
DER conversion of Edsall (FMR) class ships reproduced from Peter Elliot’s American Destroyer Escorts of WWII
However, much like their experience as Korean War weather stations, the DEW service proved rough for these little boats and they were replaced in 1960 by a converted fleet of Liberty ships. While Atlantic Fleet DERs were re-purposed to establish radar picket station to monitor the airspace between Cuba and Southern Florida for sneaky Soviets post-Castro, those in the Pacific went penguin.
As noted by Aspen-Ridge.net, a number of Pacific DERs performed work as “60° South” pickets during the annual Deep Freeze Operations in Antarctica through 1968.
The DE(R)’s mission was multifaceted; including measuring upper atmosphere weather conditions for the planes flying between McMurdo Station and Christchurch, New Zealand, establishing a Tactical Air Navigation (TACAN) presence for navigational purposes, and in an emergency to act as a Search and Rescue platform in the event a plane ever had to ditch in the ocean. The chances of survival in the cold Antarctic waters made even the thought of an ocean ditching an absolute last resort. Fortunately, I don’t recall any Deep Freeze aircraft ever having to ditch.
USS Forster DER -334, as photographed from USS Wilhoite on Deep Freeze duty
USS Forster at South Elizabeth Street Pier. Maritime Museum of Tasmania P_CR_56557 . Note her large radar array
Forster would linger on in those waters, participating in Operation Market Time, patrolling the Vietnam coast for contraband shipping and providing sea to shore fire when called upon. It was a nifty trick being able to operate in 10 feet of water sometimes. These radar pickets were used extensively to track the North Vietnamese arms-smuggling trawlers.
Men from USS Forster check a sampan for contraband cargo. The chain is to be passed under the sampan’s hull to detect cargo that might be hidden below the waterline. South China Sea, March 1966. Catalog #: USN 1142219
USS FORSTER (DER-334) Lays among Vietnamese trawlers as the destroyer escort conducts visit-and-search operations off Vietnam, 15 April 1966. Catalog #: K-31525 National Archives. Original Creator: Photographer, Chief Journalist Robert D. Moeser
Tommy guns, aviators and khakis! Ensign Caldwell of Houlton, Maine, stands guard in a motor whaleboat with a .45 caliber submachine gun M1928AL (it is actually an M1A1) off the coast of South Vietnam. The Vietnamese men wait as their junk is searched by USS FORSTER (DER-334) crewmembers, 15 April 1966. Catalog #: K-31208. Copyright Owner: National Archives Original Creator: Photographer, Chief Journalist Robert D. Moeser
U.S. Navy Signalman McCachren of Johnstown, Pennsylvania (note the tattoos and Korean war-era flak jacket with no shirt), is attached to USS FORSTER (DER-334) and rides a motor whaleboat toward a Vietnamese junk off the coast of South Vietnam, 15 April 1966. Catalog #: K-31205 Copyright Owner: National Archives. Original Creator: Photographer, Chief Journalist Robert D. Moeser
By the 1970s, the Navy’s use of DERs was ending. With that, and the new Knox-class DEs (later reclassified as FFs) coming online with the capability to operate helicopters and fire ASROC ordnance, the writing was on the wall for the last of these WWII tin cans.
1968 location unknown – The escort ship USS Forster (DE 334) underway. (U.S. Navy photo by PHCM L. P. Bodine)
Forster was decommissioned and stricken from the NVR 25 September 1971, loaned the same day to the Republic of Vietnam who placed her in service as RVNS Tran Khanh Du (HQ-04). This new service included fighting in one of the few naval clashes of the Southeast Asian conflicts, the Battle of the Paracel Islands, on 19 January 1974 between four South Vietnam Navy ships and six of the PLAN. She reportedly sank the Chinese Hainan-class submarine chaser #271 and escorted the heavily damaged frigate RVNS Ly Thuong Kiet HQ16 (ex-USS/USCGC Chincoteague AVP-24/WHEC-375) under fire to Da Nang Naval Base for emergency repairs.
Forster/Tran Khanh Du would serve the South Vietnamese Navy for just under four years until that regime fell to the North.
Written off by the U.S. Navy as “transferred to Vietnam” on 30 April 1975, the day after Saigon fell; the new government liked the old Forster and renamed her VPNS Dai Ky (HQ-03). They kept her around for another two decades equipped with 2 quad SA-N-5 Grail launchers for AAA use, and she reportedly saw some contact during the “War of the Dragons” — the 1979 Sino-Vietnamese War.
She was taken off the patrol line as a training ship in 1993, was still reportedly seaworthy in 1997, and in 1999 was reduced to a pierside training hulk. She is still carried by some Western analysts on the rolls of the Vietnamese Peoples’ Navy.
Forster/Dai Ky, if still being used, is the almost the last of her class still clocking in. Her only competition for the title or the hardest working Edsall is ex-USS Hurst (DE-250) which has been in the Mexican Navy since 1973 and is currently the training ship ARM Commodore Manuel Azueta (D111).
As for their 83 sisters, the Navy rapidly disposed of them and only one, USS Stewart (DE-238), is still in U.S. waters. Stricken in 1972, she was donated as a museum ship to Galveston, Texas on 25 June 1974 and has been there ever since, though she was badly beaten by Hurricane Ike in 2008 and is reportedly in extremely poor material condition.
The International Naval Research Organization is a non-profit corporation dedicated to the encouragement of the study of naval vessels and their histories, principally in the era of iron and steel warships (about 1860 to date). Its purpose is to provide information and a means of contact for those interested in warships.
Nearing their 50th Anniversary, Warship International, the written tome of the INRO has published hundreds of articles, most of which are unique in their sweep and subject.
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Munro back after 26,000-mile cruise spanning Atlantic and Pacific
