USCGC Healy - the US Icebreaker Fleet
The United States has something like eleven aircraft carriers, fifty nine destroyers, thirty frigates, seventy nine submarines, thirty amphibious assault ships as well as numerous minesweepers patrol craft and supply ships. The navy’s battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. Quite a few ships. In a perfect world we would never use any of them, though we are obviously far from a perfect world.
So how many operational icebreakers does the US have? We have an Arctic coast, after all. As events of the last week or two have shown, we have a need for ice breaking. The answer is – one. The US has only one medium icebreaker – the USCG Healy. The Coast Guard has two other aging heavy icebreakers, the Polar Sea and the Polar Star, but neither are in service. The Polar Sea broke down in 2010 and the Coast Guard has decommissioned her, while the Polar Star is being refit and may be available by 2013.
Icebreaker POLAR SEA sidelined by engine troubles
AS an update on the mission to provide emergency fuel to icebound Nome, Alaska, in which the USCG Cutter Healy escorted the Russian tanker through the ice, the transfer of fuel is expected to start today. It is unclear how long the transfer will take. For safety, the transfer will only take place during the daylight which in Nome is currently 5 hours per day.