Coast Guard Icebreaker ‘Healy’ Set to Redeploy to Arctic Following Repairs

By Malte Humpert (gCaptain) –

Three weeks after U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Healy returned back to homeport in Seattle following an onboard fire, the vessel looks set to return to the Arctic Ocean as early as next month. The redeployment of Healy to the region is critical at a time when China and Russia have been stepping up activity in the north.

According to communication by the USCG Pacific Area Cutter Forces initial repairs have been completed and Healy will “redeploy to the U.S. Arctic region” on or around October 1. The Coast Guard office sent out a call seeking science proposals for the upcoming voyage. 

The vessel suffered an onboard fire near Banks Island off the coast of the Canadian territory of Nunavut toward the end of July. The icebreaker was forced to terminate its annual Arctic patrol and sailed back to homeport on a single engine in mid-August.

Healy’s late fall patrol will be limited to ice-free waters and seas with marginal ice coverage no higher than 70 percent first-year ice. The Pacific Area Cutter Forces did not specify the reasoning for the operational limitations. The onboard fire reportedly destroyed an engine room transformer rendering the starboard shaft unusable.

With 50-year old Polar icebreaker Polar Star out of the water for much of the summer for scheduled dry dock maintenance, the U.S. did not have any surface vessel presence in the region after the Healy fire.

Coast Guard efforts to replace vessels and possibly expand its icebreaker fleet have been plagued by repeated delays and cost overruns, with a delivery of the first Polar Security Cutter now unlikely before 2030. 

Chinese polar icebreaker Xue Long 2 – the first domestically constructed polar class icebreaker – completed a historic visit to the Russian Arctic city of Murmansk last week. The vessel departed from Qingdao in early July and passed through the Bering Strait before spending more than a month traversing the Arctic, including circling for extended times to the north of Alaska.

Xue Long 2’s visit to Murmansk is the first of its kind highlighting the political importance of the two country’s Arctic cooperation. China has been a major supporter of and investor in Russia’s Arctic oil and gas projects. With Western sanctions limiting access to the European market, Russia will look to Asian buyers, especially China, to market its liquefied natural gas. 

China has been increasing its presence in the Arctic region deploying three icebreakers and icebreaking research vessels this summer. A fourth icebreaker will join its Arctic capabilities next year. Russia also recently launched its first “combat” icebreaker.

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