With a relatively short length in proportion to the great power developed, her bow had the characteristic sloping forefoot that enabled her to ride up on heavy ice and break it with the weight of the vessel.

[3][4] Glacier's shakedown cruise and maiden voyage were combined in "Operation Deep Freeze I", as flagship for Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd.

The ship returned to McMurdo Sound on 28 October 1956 for "Deep Freeze II", having made the earliest seasonal penetration in history.

Glacier then delivered stores and supplies at McMurdo and then Little America, she led seven other ships of the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) through the ice pack to the two Antarctic bases.

During "Deep Freeze III" and the IGY of 1957–1958, Glacier participated as a launching platform for "rockoon" tests during which balloon-lifted rockets gathered information of interest to the "Explorer" space satellite program.

Subsequently, while operating in the Terra Nova Bay on the coast of Victoria Land, she discovered two unknown islands and what was likely the largest emperor penguin rookery in the Antarctic, home of over 50,000 of the large birds.

Glacier then sped to the assistance of the Belgian expedition ship RV Polarhav near Breid Bay, halfway around the Antarctic continent from the Ross Sea.

In late February 1960 Glacier raced to assist Argentine Navy icebreaker ARA General San Martín and Danish cargo ship MV Kista Dan.

When this rescue mission was accomplished, Glacier sailed to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on 2 April 1960 and provided emergency assistance to flooded areas there for twelve days.

[5] The icebreaker departed Boston on 13 October 1960 on her sixth Antarctic voyage and reached Lyttelton, New Zealand on 21 November 1960 to unload cargo.

Glacier returned to Wellington, New Zealand for repairs, and to receive the U.S. Navy Unit Commendation for her Bellingshausen Sea expedition success.

In September 1967, Glacier departed her new homeport of Long Beach, California en route to the Chukchi Sea north of Cape Lisbourne, Alaska, to aid in the rescue of USCGC Northwind, beset in Arctic ice.

At that time an experimental navigational satellite (NavSat) system was installed in Glacier by the Applied Physics Lab of Johns Hopkins University, to allow precise positioning in the upcoming exploration in the Weddell Sea.

Glacier escorted the damaged Southwind across the Drake Passage to Puntas Arena, then up the West coast of South America to the Panama Canal.

In 1975, Glacier was trapped in ice in Antarctica for six days, finally breaking free and escaping into the waters of Antarctic Sound on 10 March 1975.

Two of the three blades on her other screw were sheared off by "steel hard ice" on Wednesday 5 March, while en route to assist an Argentine icebreaker, ARA General San Martín, which had engine trouble while on a supply mission to a south polar scientific base.