Coast Guard Icebreakers

The United States Coast Guard maintains a fleet of ships specially built and dedicated to keeping shipping lanes open and safe from ice. The largest of these ships operate in the Arctic and Antarctic. Others in this group serve to keep the shipping lanes open in the Great Lakes and in a number of harbors and waterways.

The Coast Guard has 13 cutters considered icebreakers. Some of them are thirty years old with only one having been commissioned since the turn of the century. The three largest cutters are assigned to the polar regions, although only two are operational. USCGC Polar Star is on caretaker status, in dock, pending funding, refitting and a new crew.

Six icebreaking cutters are assigned to the Great Lakes. Five are 140 foot Bay-class ships, and one is the unique USCGC MacKinaw. The MacKinaw is the second icebreaker of that name on the great lakes, and at 240 feet in length, is the most powerful such ship in the Lakes.

The Coast Guard maintains a number of other, small vessels, with icebreaking capabilities. Several are tugs while others are tenders designed for buoy placement and maintenance.

There are no plans in place to add to or replace any of the current cutter icebreaker ships. The possibility exists that some of the planned off shore patrol cutters could be modified for light ice breaking duties. The program is in development and the designs of the ships will vary based upon trade-offs between various needs of the service.

According to Assistant Commandant for Acquisition Rear Adm. Gary T. Blore, of the United States Coast Guard, an Arctic type cutter icebreaker would cost $750-$950 million dollars and take ten years to plan and build. In an interview on February 6, 2009, he told me that the President's Economic Stimulus Package currently being debated in Congress contained funds for some work on the Polar Star and other funds to begin the acquisition process for a new cutter icebreaker.

He talked about the Northwest Passage, an ice free route between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans skirting the Arctic ice pack. Rear Adm. Blore clearly expressed the need for cutter icebreakers to support national policy in the Arctic.

For several summers that route has opened as the ice pack retreated farther north than normal. The policy of the United States is that the Northwest Passage is open water, free for navigation. Canada sees the area as its territorial waters. The Russians have been engaged in operations in the Arctic recently that have created national security concerns for both the United States and Canada.

The two cutter icebreakers assigned to polar duties carry out important scientific research, as well as keep the shipping channels open to supply settlements and research stations on or near the ice packs around the North and South Poles. The Great Lakes cutters and icebreaking tugs allow shipping to move in the region for an additional twelve weeks each year. Those cutters and tugs assigned to harbors and waterways keep them navigable year round, allowing commerce from all over the world to sail and dock in our ports.

Coast Guard cutter icebreakers are needed for both scientific and commercial purposes. They also support national security interests in the polar regions.