[1][2][3] Wind-class icebreakers had hulls 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.

[3] Eastwind ferried 200 US army troops which captured the last German weather station in Greenland, Edelweiss II, on 4 October 1944.

On 19 January 1949 Eastwind, underway from Boston, Massachusetts to Baltimore, Maryland was struck starboard amidships by the tanker SS Gulfstream sailing to the Persian Gulf from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania off of Cape May, New Jersey and severely damaged.

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.

In March and April 1968,[8] CAPT C. William Bailey, Commanding, Eastwind entered the Great Lakes to aid with icebreaking duties, during a particularly severe ice winter.

In early June 1968, Eastwind departed Boston and participated in Arctic East Summer 1968, CAPT C. William Bailey, Commanding.

After opening the shipping route to Thule AFB on July 4, 1968, Eastwind continued oceanographic studies in the Greenland Sea and Disko Island regions.

Eastwind departed Boston 3 weeks later and returned to salvage the remaining Arctic-East summer navigation season in the Greenland Sea.