U.S. Coast Guard Icebreaker ‘Healy’ Heads To Arctic for Multi-Month Deployment

U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy has reached the Arctic Ocean marking the beginning of its annual Arctic deployment in support of science missions. The icebreaker departed from Seattle on Thursday, June 20 and entered the Bering Sea five days later. 

Healy is unlikely to encounter any sea ice for several more days as the current ice edge sits high in the Chukchi Sea, well above the Bering Strait.

Its 2025 Arctic deployment will take Healy into the East Siberian and Laptev Seas along Russia’s Northern Sea Route. Here it will deploy and service instruments for the Office of Naval Research and its Arctic Mobile Observing System (AMOS). The program studies sea ice dynamics and water circulation patterns. The vessel will also support the NABOS mission of the National Science Foundation.

“We are eager to return to the Arctic,” said Healy’s Commanding Officer, Capt. Kristen Serumgard. “Healy is uniquely positioned to advance scientific understanding of the Arctic environment, directly supporting security and defense of the nation’s northernmost borders and maritime approaches.”

The deployment will mirror Healy’s 2023 Arctic mission where it sailed for extended periods of time just outside Russia’s Exclusive Economic Zone in support of AMOS and NABOS. At the time Healy’s activities were closely monitored by Russian survey vessel Akademik Nemchinov.

At the end of that mission the icebreaker visited Tromsø, Norway during a four-day port call. It also conducted joint operations with the Norwegian Coast Guard vessel Svalbard. The Coast Guard has not confirmed if Healy will again transit the Arctic to Norway or backtrack to Alaska. 

Last year’s Arctic deployment was cut short following an engine room related fire shortly after reaching the Canadian Arctic, forcing Healy to abort its voyage and return to Seattle on a single engine for repairs at the end of July. Roughly two months later the vessel returned to the polar north for an abbreviated deployment lasting into December 2024.

Meanwhile the Coast Guard’s new acquisition Storis is set to arrive in San Diego on Tuesday, July 1 after passing through the Panama Canal earlier this month. According to a USCG statement the icebreaker’s maiden voyage will take it to the Arctic to “’safeguard U.S. sovereign interests” in the region.

It is not clear if it will sail into Arctic waters prior or following its official commissioning expected in Juneau, Alaska in August.

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