USCGC Eastwind ( WAGB - 279 ) USCGC " Eastwind " ( WAGB - 279 ) was a " Wind " - class icebreaker that was built for the United States Coast Guard . Completed in time to see action in World War II , she continued in USCG service under the same name until decommissioned in 1968 . Construction . " Eastwind " was the second of five Wind - class of icebreakers built for the United States Coast Guard . Her keel was laid down on 23 June 1942 at Western Pipe and Steel Company shipyards in San Pedro . She was launched on 6 February 1943 and commissioned on 3 June 1944 . Her hull was of unprecedented strength and structural integrity , with a relatively short length in proportion to the great power developed , a cut away forefoot , rounded bottom , and fore , aft and side heeling tanks . Diesel electric machinery was chosen for its controllability and resistance to damage . " Eastwind " , along with the other Wind - class icebreakers , was heavily armed for an icebreaker due to her design being crafted during World War II . Her main battery consisted of two twin - mount 5 in ( 130 mm ) deck guns . Her anti - aircraft weaponry consisted of three quad - mounted Bofors 40 mm anti - aircraft autocannons and six Oerlikon 20 mm autocannons . She also carried six K - gun depth charge projectors and a Hedgehog as anti - submarine weapons . After the war her aft 5 ” mount was replace by a helicopter deck , by 1951 her forward mount had also been removed . History . " Eastwind " ferried 200 US army troops which captured the last German weather station in Greenland , " Edelweiss II " , on 4 October 1944 . She also seized the German trawler " Externsteine " , which was ressuplying the base . " Externsteine " was later commissioned in the US Coast Guard as USCGC " Eastbreeze " and later commissioned as the US Navy ship USS Callao . In 1952 , during an Arctic Cruise , for the first time were launched stratospheric balloons from the deck of the ship . The balloon carried scientific instruments to perform cosmic ray studies and rockets to be fired once in the stratosphere ( Rockoons ) . Captain Oliver A . Peterson , Commanding . In 1956 and 1956 she participated in Antarctic exploration activities . Captain Oliver A . Peterson , Commanding . In October 1960 , as part of Operation Deep Freeze , she departed Boston , passed through the Panama Canal , crossed the Pacific , visited New Zealand and McMurdo sound . Leaving Antarctica , she traveled the Indian Ocean , came through the Suez Canal , crossed the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean to return home in May 1961 . This tour made the Eastwind the first cutter ever to circumnavigate the globe . Two mountains in Antarctica , Mount Schmidtman and Mount Naab , were named after her captains during this period : Captain R . D . Schmidtman , USCG commanded the vessel in 1960 , and Captain Joseph Naab , Jr . , USCG commanded her during 1961 and 1962 . In 1966 she left Boston MA in September for Operation Deep Freeze ' 67 ' returned April 1967 . Captain William Benkert , Commanding . After that she was assigned to operations on the Great Lakes until being sold to Sun Oil Company . In 1972 she was sold for scrap and last seen at the breaking yards in New Jersey in 1976 or 1977 .