A deep dive from The Drive, December 3:
The U.S. Coast Guard's only operational heavy icebreaker might not have a replacement by the time it needs to retire, even after a major overhaul.
The U.S. Coast Guard has quietly pushed back when it expects to receive its first new heavy icebreaker, also known as the Polar Security Cutter, or PSC, from 2024 to 2025. This raises questions about whether the ship will be ready before the USCGC Polar Star, the only operational heavy icebreaker the service has now, reaches the end of its viable service life, even after a planned major overhaul. The Coast Guard's overall icebreaking capacity has become an increasingly pressing national security issue in recent years in large part due to the growing strategic significance of the Arctic region and the potential for conflict there.
It's unclear when the PSC delivery schedule got delayed. A review of archived copies of the Coast Guard's official website for the program shows that the date was updated there sometime between Sept. 27 and Sept. 29. Admiral Karl Schultz, Commandant of the Coast Guard, had not included a projected date of any kind for when he expected the first of these to be delivered in his prepared remarks at a hearing on the readiness of his service in April. The year before, he had said that the first of these icebreakers could potentially be ready in 2023.
The U.S. Navy, which is managing the program together with the Coast Guard, awarded the first contract for the lead PSC to VT Halter Marine in 2019, at which time the goal was to take delivery of the ship in 2024. This was already a one-year delay in the original timeline, which envisioned the arrival of three PSCs in 2023, 2025, and 2026, respectively. There were at that time and continue to be "financial incentives for earlier delivery" included in that deal, according to the Navy and the Coast Guard....
....MUCH MORE
Very related: "Full speed ahead for Russia’s new fleet of giant icebreakers".
If interested see also:
The U.S. Has NO Icebreakers It Can Deploy To The Arctic This Year
What the actual hell.
Congress and the Obama administration should have ordered six heavies ten years ago.
This is dereliction of their single most important function, national defense, and borderline suicidal.
An Account of The Voyage Of The Icebreaker USCG Polar Star (It's bad)
FIRE IN ANTARCTIC OCEAN Aboard U.S.Coast Guard’s Last Heavy Icebreaker
The introductions to our two most recent posts on the Polar Star began with "This is just sad".
It is now beyond sad and is stupidly dangerous to use this ship any longer.
The Only U.S. Heavy Icebreaker Suffers MULTIPLE Mechanical Problems On Voyage To Antarctica
This is just sad."US Coast Guard Turns Down Arctic Exercise Because 40-year-old Icebreaker Might Break Down And Would Require Russian Help"
The Polar Star has a sister ship, the Polar Sea, but that has been deactivated and is being cannibalized for parts. The only other major American icebreaker is the USCGC Healy, a big boat but only a medium icebreaker.
"U.S. Watchdog Warns The Coast Guard To Get Real About Its Plans To Field Critical New Icebreakers"
