Coast Guard ICE Polar Icebreakers Operations Past, present, and future. by CDR T HOMAS WOJAHN Ice Operations Program Manager, U.S. Coast Guard Division of Ice Operations and Mobility The United States has extensive economic, environ - All icebreakers returned to the Coast Guard in the mental, and security interests in the polar regions. 1960s when it was determined that—with its long his - Much of the state of Alaska lies within the Arctic circle, tory of operations in the ice-covered waters of Alaska, and the U.S. maintains geopolitical relations with Antarctica, Greenland, the Great Lakes, and the East other Arctic nations. In the Antarctic, the U.S. partici - Coast—it was the best service to execute all of the pates in a number of international agreements, such as nation’s icebreaking missions. Upon the return of the the 1961 Antarctic Treaty. Over the decades, repeated last wind-class vessel, the USCG fleet included eight high-level reviews have reaffirmed the importance of heavy icebreakers, the seven wind-class icebreakers, U.S. presence and leadership in the polar regions. and the Glacier, which was built for the Navy in 1955. For the past 140 years, the U.S. Coast Guard has con - In 1955, the USCG returned to Antarctica to facilitate ducted a variety of missions in these regions, and for the first Operation Deep Freeze (resupply of the U.S. the past 40 years has been the sole operator of heavy Antarctic program) in support of science and national U.S. icebreakers in the harshest marine environments security missions on the continent, which have con - in the world. To continue protecting its interests in the tinued annually ever since. In 1957, during efforts to polar regions, the nation must have vessels with the resupply northern distant early-warning radar sta - capability to operate in these severe environments. tions, cutters Storis , Bramble , and Spar became the first U.S. vessels to transit the Northwest Passage. The U.S. Becomes an “Arctic Nation” and USCG Ice Operations Evolve Arctic research aboard USCG icebreakers intensified The purchase of Alaska in 1867 stimulated the need in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when the prospect of for vessels capable of operating in ice-covered waters increased oil and gas exploration in the Alaskan Arctic to provide a U.S. maritime presence. The task of required ecological baseline surveys in the Chukchi patrolling the vast waters of the newly acquired terri - and Beaufort Seas. The 1970s brought new challenges tory was assigned to the Revenue Cutter Service, the with the discovery of oil on the north slope of Alaska, predecessor of today’s USCG. which suddenly added a new dimension to Coast Guard duties in Arctic waters. In 1969, cutters Years of studying foreign icebreaker design proved Northwind and Staten Island escorted the tanker beneficial in 1941 when USCG contracted the con - Manhattan during its test voyages through the struction of the 269-foot “wind”-class icebreakers. Northwest Passage. In 1971, Northwind surveyed the Northwind , Southwind , Eastwind , and Westwind were north slope and also freed an icebound convoy of 20 completed by 1944. These vessels were not only the tugs and 40 barges en route to Prudhoe Bay. most sturdy and powerful icebreakers in the world, but they also possessed a number of innovative The upshot of new needs and aging vessels brought design features unprecedented for their time, includ - the authorization of the polar-class icebreakers, Polar ing fore, aft, and side-heeling tanks and pumps that Star and Polar Sea , commissioned in 1976 and 1978, essentially rocked the ship free from ice. Eventually, a respectively. These were the first U.S. polar icebreakers total of seven wind-class icebreakers were built for the built since the Glacier . In the 1980s, the older vessels U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Navy. were decommissioned as the polar-class icebreakers www.uscg.mil/proceedings Summer 2007 Proceedings 85 In 2006, the National Research Council completed Future of U.S. Coast Guard Polar Icebreakers Polar Star and Polar Sea are both nearly 30 years old, an independent analysis entitled “Polar Icebreakers in a and years of heavy icebreaking deployments have Changing World: An Assessment of U.S. Needs,” taken their toll. Extraordinarily severe ice conditions which concluded with seven key recommendations: in McMurdo Sound during the past five years have required two icebreakers to complete Antarctic 1. The United States should continue to project an active and resupply operations. This schedule has accelerated influential presence in the Arctic to support its interests. wear on the ships, curtailed maintenance periods, This requires U.S. government polar icebreaking capabil - and increased repair costs to the point that both ity to assure year-round access throughout the region. Polar Sea and Polar Star have exceeded their econom - 2. The United States should continue to project an active and ical service lives. influential presence in the Antarctic to support its inter - ests. The nation should reliably control sufficient icebreak - In 2005, the Office of Management and Budget ing capability to break a channel into and assure the decided to shift budget authority for the USCG maritime resupply of McMurdo Station. polar icebreaker program direct costs to the National 3. The United States should maintain leadership in polar Science Foundation until a new national policy was research. This requires icebreaking capability to provide determined. In order to fund significant sustainabil - access to the deep Arctic and the ice-covered waters of the ity upgrades on Polar Sea , Polar Star was placed in Antarctic. “caretaker” status in 2006 until the polar icebreaker 4. National interests in the polar regions require that the policy dilemma is resolved. United States immediately program, budget, design, and Even though we are one of seven nations with terri - construct two new polar icebreakers to be operated by the tory and claims north of the Arctic circle, fiscal con - U.S. Coast Guard. cerns regarding replacement of our two aging heavy 5. To provide continuity of U.S. icebreaking capabilities, the icebreakers in recent years have cast significant Polar Sea should remain mission capable and the Polar Star doubt over U.S. support and commitment in the should remain available for reactivation until the new polar regions, especially when other world powers polar icebreakers enter service. such as Russia, China, Japan, the European Union, 6. The U.S. Coast Guard should be provided a sufficient and Korea are bolstering their polar icebreaker capa - operations and maintenance budget to support an bilities. increased, regular, and influential presence in the Arctic. Other agencies should reimburse incremental costs associ - Following the National Research Council recom - ated with directed mission tasking. mendations (see inset), the USCG is actively pursu - 7. Polar icebreakers are essential instruments of U.S. national ing a new national polar region policy to include policy in the changing polar regions. To assure adequate requirements regarding the need for U.S. maritime national icebreaking capability into the future, a presiden - surface presence in the Arctic and Antarctic. tial decision directive should be issued to clearly align Additionally, the Coast Guard is working to initiate agency responsibilities and budgetary authorities. a polar icebreaker major acquisition, as outlined in the study. joined the fleet. The two polar-class icebreakers were Until the national policy debate on polar icebreakers designed to carry out a range of missions in the Arctic is resolved and an acquisition is completed, the and Antarctic regions, including escorting non-ice - Polar Sea will be used on an annual basis to support breaking vessels through the ice, conducting oceano - the U.S. Antarctic program, and Healy will be used to graphic research, and resupplying military and continue its support for Arctic research. research bases. About the author: CDR Thomas Wojahn is the U.S. Coast Guard’s Ice Operations program After a 10-year effort to develop a national polar ice - manager. CDR Wojahn graduated from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy breaker policy, and following a White House report to in 1989 and from the Naval Postgraduate School in 1996 with an M.S. Congress regarding U.S. polar icebreaker needs, in meteorology and physical oceanography. He has seven years’ sea time funding was appropriated for a new USCG polar ice - on USCG polar icebreakers, patrol boats, and medium-endurance cutters. breaker in 1990. This led to the cooperative develop - Bibliography : ment of CGC Healy , which was built to be a Http://www.uscg.mil/history/. state-of-the-art Arctic research polar icebreaker. Healy Committee on the Assessment of U.S. Coast Guard Polar Icebreaker Roles was commissioned in 1999 and has supported annual and Future Needs, National Research Council, “Polar Icebreakers in a Changing World: An Assessment of U.S. Needs,” the National Academies Arctic research projects since 2000, with one deploy - Press, 2007. ment to support Operation Deep Freeze in 2003. Summer 2007 www.uscg.mil/proceedings 86 Proceedings National Requirements for Polar Icebreaking Capability U.S. need for polar icebreaking capability should be con - developed nations to look more to the environmentally sidered on three levels: sensitive polar regions to tap the vast resources that have been sheltered by the polar ice caps. The ability of the U.S. (1) direct mission tasking, to exert influence and support national polar interests depends heavily on a continuing engagement, manifested (2) potential contingency operations, in both special and routine operations. A U.S. vessel, crewed by its Coast Guard, enables the broadest and most (3) the vital benefit of having a sovereign national flexible application of statutory authorities and influence. presence in the polar regions.