Ice Camp Exercise Ends Early

The Navy shut down its Ice Camp Nautilus March 23, a week earlier than planned, because of high winds, low temperatures, and cracks in the ice. The camp was built March 17 on an ice floe north of Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, as a temporary structure. The exercise, ICEX-2014, would have involved building several airfields to supply the camp. The cracked ice made their construction impossible, while bad weather impaired visibility for helicopters and posed potential hazards for runway operations. While surface operations have ended, the Virginia-class attack submarine New Mexico and Los Angeles-class attack submarine Hampton were continuing to gather data and conduct exercises while underway under the polar ice.