An artist’s rendering of VT Halter Marine’s winning bid for the U.S. Coast Guard Polar Security Cutter. VT Halter Marine image used with permission
The White House released a memo Tuesday ordering the Coast Guard and other federal agencies to review the planned Polar Security Cutter fleet, a year after awarding the first-in-class icebreaker contract.
The following is the Feb. 5, 2020 Government Accountability Office testimony before the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security on the Coast Guard icebreaker programs. Read More
The Coast Guard Cutter Nathan Bruckenthal berthed before its commissioning ceremony in Alexandria, Virginia, July 25, 2018. The Bruckenthal was the 28th Sentinel-class Fast Response Cutter to be commissioned.
U.S. Coast Guard photo
The Coast Guard’s Fiscal Year 2021 budget request calls for fully funding the next phases of the service’s two most significant cutter programs but leaves a third class on hold for the time being.
The Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star moves through pack ice Dec. 28, 2019, about 200 miles north of McMurdo Station, Antarctica. The 43-year-old Polar Star is the nation’s only heavy icebreaker. This year marks the 64th iteration of the operation known as Operation Deep Freeze. U.S. Coast Guard photograph
The nation’s only heavy icebreaker USCGC Polar Star (WAGB-10) finished bashing a 23-mile channel through pack ice on Wednesday to reach the National Science Foundation’s research facility, McMurdo Station, in Antarctica.
U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Munro (WMSL-755) crew members inspect a self-propelled semi-submersible on June 19, 2019, in international waters of the Eastern Pacific Ocean. US Coast Guard Photo
This post is part of a series of review stories looking back at the top naval news from 2019.
For the U.S. Coast Guard, 2019 was marked by big moves in the service’s two most significant programs – the start of the Polar Security Cutter and a delay of the Offshore Patrol Cutter program.
The Coast Guard Cutter Nathan Bruckenthal berthed before its commissioning ceremony in Alexandria, Virginia, July 25, 2018. The Bruckenthal was the 28th Sentinel-class Fast Response Cutter to be commissioned. Coast Guard photo
The House approved a $12 billion Fiscal Year 2020 funding deal that puts limitations on the Offshore Patrol Cutter program while moving ahead with funding for polar icebreakers, Fast Response Cutters and long-range surveillance aircraft. Read More
Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Karl Schultz meets with Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer and Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan in Nome and Port Clarence, Alaska to discuss the construction of deep-draft ports in western Alaska, Aug. 13, 2018. Coast Guard photo
WASHINGTON, D.C. – For now, the Coast Guard is focused on being sea-based in the high latitudes even as talk of building a deep-water Arctic port gains support in Washington.
USCGC Polar Star (WAGB-10) off McMurdo Sound near McMurdo Station, a United States Antarctic research center in 2018. US Air Force Photo
WASHINGTON, D.C. – For the next several years, the Coast Guard’s only heavy icebreaker will lead the annual Antarctic resupply mission as the service develops its new class of icebreaker.
An artist’s rendering of VT Halter Marine’s winning bid for the U.S. Coast Guard Polar Security Cutter. VT Halter Marine image used with permission
WASHINGTON, D.C. – By building a heavy icebreaker designed to both withstand the frigid waters and accommodate major maintenance needs, the Coast Guard hopes to avoid the catastrophic failures that have hamstrung the service’s polar missions for a nearly a decade. Read More
US Heavy Ice Breaker Polar Star (WAGB-10). US Coast Guard Photo
The U.S. Coast Guard’s polar icebreaking fleet will remain based in Seattle after delivery of its new class of heavy icebreakers.
