Evening star., 1954-11-18
US. Has Its Full Fleet
Of lcebreokers Again
Russions Return 3 Croft;
New Flagship Completed
By Thomos R. Henry

By Thomos R. Henry
The United States has its full ice
feet again - eight ships that sail
through Arctic and Antarctic ice eight
to 10 feet thick as easily, q lot more
smoothly, at least. as other naval craft
sail through tropical waters.
These are the icebreakers. headed by
the new 8.300-ton Glacier. During the
war the Coast Guard built the four
wind" latest word in ice ships at
the time. Three were almost ct once
loaned to Russia-herself q pioneer in
icebreaker, development, for use along
the supply lines of the European Arctic.
Only the East Wind was retained by
this country. At that time the develop
ment Of warfare In the far north was
by no means so clear as at present.
Later. however, three more were built
along the same general lines as the
East Wind-a new North Wind for the
Coast Guard and. the Edisto Island and
Burton Island for the Navy.
Craft Returned.
After long delay the Russians have
returned the three borrowed craft.
meanwhile reportedly making quite
considerable advances themselves in
icebreaker design. Three years ago the
South Wind was returned, rechristened
the Atka, and is about to start on q
voyage Of exploration in the Antarctic
preliminary to the large-scale American
participation proposed for the Inter-
national GeophySical Year. The pri.
mary purpose Of its preliminary voyage.
under command of Comdr. Glenn Ja-
cobson, will be to revisit the Bay Of
Whales, the site of Admiral Richard
E. Byrd's four Antarctic camps and
ascertain whether this sheltered wedge
of usually open water in the Ross ice
sheet still exists. It always has been
realized that it might close completely
at any time. Here it is proposed to
set up the main American base two
years hence. Should the Bay Of Whales
have gone out Of existence, the Atka
will seek some other sheltered inlet
which may have opened in the high ice
walls which front the Ross Sea.
Two years ago the West Wind and
North Wind were returned. The latter
went back to the Coast Guard. but the
Navy retained the West Wind, renam-
ing it the Staten Island. AL three ships
appeared to be in good condition after
their long exile. Each has a displace-
ment of $500 tons and has six diesel
engines which drive two 5.000-horse-
power motors. The new Glacier. just
launched at Pascagoula, Miss, has al-
most twice this size and power and
should be able to penetrate with little
difficulty almost any ice likely to be
encountered in the open seas. Shore
ice often becomes impossible for any
craft to get through.
improvements Noted.
Several notable improvements have
been incorporated in the Glacier and
installed on other ships. Pilot houses.
for example. now are equipped with
electrically heated. non-icing windows.
Before this development crew member
had to be stationed on deck to wipe
spray from the windows before it froze.
Both this procedure and an attempt
to keep the windows ice free with auto
mobile wipers. similar to those used on
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unsatisfactory and visibility often was q
serious problem.
Under test at present is an "icephobic
paint" intended to retard the forma-
ton Of ice on topside surfaces. II this
proves successful, it will be of consid-
,erable importance. Hitherto an ice
breaker pulling into q Greenland port
after week at sea was completely
coated with Ice and hardly could be dis.
,tinguished from o somewhat fantas-
tically shaped iceberg.
Radio communication always is likely
to be erratic in polar regions. A great
deal Of work has been done to develop
kite balloons which, in emergencies,
will lift the end of an antenna cable
1000 feet or more above the ship, thus
almost guaranteeing low frequency sig
mails for approximately 1,500 miles. A
problem Is ENHANCEMENT of the an
tenna cable in the ships rigging during
high winds.