USCGC Staten Island
1942 Wind-class icebreaker
USCGC Staten Island (WAGB-278) was a United States Coast Guard Wind-class icebreaker. Laid down on 9 June 1942 and launched on 28 December 1942, the ship was commissioned on 26 February 1944, and almost immediately afterward transferred to the Soviet Union, under the Lend Lease program, under the name Severny Veter, which loosely translates as Northwind, until 19 December 1951. When returned to the United States Navy, she was designated USS Northwind until 15 April 1952, when she was renamed USS Staten Island to distinguish her from her successor USCGC Northwind (WAGB-282) which had been laid down shortly after she was lent to the Soviet Union. The ship was transferred to the U.S. Coast Guard as USCGC Staten Island in February 1965, and served until November 1974, before being scrapped.
Construction
Staten Island was one of the icebreakers designed by Lieutenant commander Edward Thiele and Gibbs & Cox of New York, who modeled them after plans for European icebreakers he obtained before the start of World War II.
She was the first of seven completed ships of the Wind-class of icebreakers operated by the United States Coast Guard. She was laid down on 9 June 1942 at Western Pipe and Steel Company shipyards in San Pedro, California, launched on 28 December 1942 and commissioned on 26 February 1944. Once commissioned, she was almost immediately transferred to the Soviet Union under the Lend-Lease program.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.
Staten Island had her designed heavy armament reduced to four single 3"50cal., eight single 40mm., and two depth charge racks for Soviet service.
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This entry incorporates text from “USCGC Staten Island” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.