On 19 January during a storm, a fifty-foot slab of ice broke off from Kainan Bay, transforming what had been the supply dump into open water. In the days following, big heavy, razor-sharp cakes of floating ice threatened to rupture the sides of the ships. "Mike Boats" positioned themselves between the U.S.S. Arneb and the edges of the bay ice and plied their bows into the floating pack, shoving it clear of the U.S.S. Arneb's stern.