Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star (WAGB-10) and crew departed Seattle on Friday, beginning their monthslong deployment to Antarctica in support of Operation Deep Freeze, an annual joint military mission to resupply research stations.
This deployment marks the 28th year the Coast Guard has supported NSF’s Antarctic work and the United States Antarctic Program in the Southern Ocean. Polar Star’s responsibilities include breaking a navigable channel through the ice, allowing fuel and supply ships to reach McMurdo Station. McMurdo is the United States’ largest Antarctic station and the logistics hub.
The last Operation Deep Freeze Deployment for Polar Star lasted 136 days.
The Coast Guard will provide logistical support to the NSF and maintain a regional presence to preserve Antarctica as a scientific refuge working under Joint Task Force-Support Forces Antarctica, according to a Coast Guard news release. The task force provides Department of Defense support to the NSF and the Antarctic Program through Operation Deep Freeze.
Among the challenges is the heavy icebreaker undergoing the fourth phase of its five-year service life extension program, Capt. Jeff Rasnake, Polar Star’s commanding officer, said in the release. Polar Star, the nation’s only heavy icebreaker, commissioned 48 years ago.
The nation’s other icebreaker Healy (WAGB-20) is the United States’ largest and the only icebreaker in the Coast Guard designed specifically for Arctic research. Commissioned 25 years ago, it is designated as a medium icebreaker.
The Coast Guard is recapitalizing its polar icebreaker fleet to ensure continued access to the polar regions and to protect the country’s economic, environmental and national security interests in the high latitudes.
The Coast Guard ideally wants a fleet of eight icebreakers.
“The Coast Guard faces gaps in capability that challenge our ability to operate reliably and meet mission needs. Our goal of persistent presence in the Arctic and seasonal Antarctic presence requires a fleet mix of eight icebreakers (including both heavy and medium),” the service wrote in its posture statement.
Heavy icebreakers are capable of breaking ice more than 2 meters thick and medium icebreakers are capable of breaking ice up to 1.5 meters thick.
Bollinger Shipyard in Mississippi is expected to begin construction on the U.S. Coast Guard’s Polar Security Cutter by the end of 2024. The program, plagued by delays in design and cost overruns, has come under congressional scrutiny. When delivered, it will replace Polar Star.
The latest Congressional Budget Office report said the Coast Guard’s $3.2 billion estimate to build three heavy icebreakers is under service review.
