Well, that's probably a good thing because if the Bering Strait ices up the way it did last year and the only American medium icebreaker gets stuck on the way to Nome or Point Barrow, you are going to want one of those big red friends to come help out.
From gCaptain, October 18:
The Canadian Coast Guard has taken delivery of its third medium icebreaker which it acquired secondhand from the commercial market in 2018.
The icebreaker, renamed CCGS Vincent Massey, will join its two sister vessels, CCGS Captain Molly Kool and CCGS Jean Goodwill, in providing icebreaking services in the Atlantic Canada, the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes, as well as the Arctic.
Vincent Massey was originally built in 2000 and previously went by the name Tor Viking. The vessel was one of three medium commercial icebreakers the Canadian Coast Guard acquired from Viking Supply Ships in 2018. The CCGS Molly Kool and CCGS Jean Goodwill have been in service since 2018 and November 2020, respectively.
The Canadian Government spent a total CAD $912.5 million on the purchase and conversion of the three vessels at at Chantier Davie in Lévis, Quebec....
....MUCH MORE
Of course the Russians have a freakin' fleet of icebreakers along the western end of the Northern Sea Route: the Siberian, Chukchi, and Bering seas, and would do the right thing and come to assist if asked but the asking might be a bit awkward at the moment.
