Coast Guard May Reactivate Icebreaker

The Coast Guard may reactivate the icebreaker Polar Sea, to fill mission gaps until Congress sees fit to authorize construction of a new such vessel. Polar Sea was deactivated in 2010, after developing serious trouble with its power plants. Refurbishing the ship and returning it to active service would be considerably cheaper than building a new one, Lt. Dan Halsig of the Coast Guard’s Cutter Forces office, said during an April 14 presentation at the Navy League of the United States’ Sea-Air-Space exposition in Oxon Hill, Md. The service contends that it needs at least six icebreakers to meet mission demands. At present, only two are in service – Polar Star and Healy. “We are … investigating all aspects of what to do with Polar Sea,” Halsig told his audience.