Report to Congress on U.S. Coast Guard Icebreaker Procurement - USNI News

Served aboard polar Star in 2017. Physical and mental toll it takes doing round the clock ice ops on the crew is crazy, much of it from a ship that’s old enough you have to fix it as you go. There was a contractor riding her with us to the ice, getting down improvements from the crew perspective on what the new class of icebreakers would nee. Hopefully they’ll put that experience to good use. When she’s not in the ice or in transit, she’s often found in the yards just to get ready to sail again. I think this year they had a leak with 20 gallons a minute coming in the hull, so scuttlebutt says, a few days into the ice. She’s a GOOD old girl, but she’s a good OLD girl.

My understanding is Polar Sea is a shell, just sitting there for Polar Star to use parts from. My opinion is that Star’s engineering department, and the DC shop in particular, are Star Trek-engineer-Scotty type miracle workers, keeping her going for so long.

Don’t know about my contemporaries, but this blue water MCPO has been saying the USCG is under funded and lacks the resources necessary for keeping the Arctic open. We pay up or accept Russia’s dominance in the frozen North.

I always found those ships esp fascinating....