US Coast Guard deploys two polar icebreakers to Arctic Ocean

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00:00The United States Coast Guard is operating two polar icebreakers at the same time in the Arctic

00:05Ocean. May not sound like much, but it's the first time that's happened in more than a decade.

00:14According to the Automatic Identification Systems on board the vessels, the United States Coast

00:19Guard cutters Healy and Storris recently met up in the waters off Unalaska in the Aleutian

00:25Island chain. The Healy then steams north to conduct its annual science missions in the Arctic Circle.

00:31The Storris was in Dutch Harbor at last check, but will be performing a number of tasks

00:37while deployed on its first Arctic patrol. It's the first time since 2013 that the United States Coast

00:44Guard had the resources to put two polar icebreakers in the Arctic at the same time.

00:50I think it provides more coverage for the United States. Salmer Cagliano is a university professor,

00:56maritime historian, and host of the YouTube channel What's Going On With Shipping. He says

01:02the Arctic is seeing more traffic now than ever before. China, Korea, Sweden, Russia,

01:08and others are all expanding Arctic operations. Well, the U.S. went very big in the Arctic in

01:14the 50s and 60s with the construction of things like the distance early warning line. And you know,

01:19it was a really massive Arctic presence. But again, the U.S. kind of backed off on that.

01:24And what we're seeing right now is a lot of nations, and particularly Russia, is developing

01:28that Northern Sea route, that ability to move cargo from basically the region of the North Sea,

01:34right around Norway, across that Arctic route, and come out through the Bering Sea into the Pacific.

01:40And last year was record levels for them. And we're seeing them top that time and time again.

01:44Plus, we're seeing a lot of exploration up there. One of the big issues that triggered

01:49the United States was these Chinese vessels within the exclusive economic zone, the 200-mile zone

01:56of northern Alaska, and off the continental shelf, which extends a little further out from there.

02:01At 420 feet long and a displacement of 16,000 tons, the Healey is the larger of the two icebreakers.

02:11It was built as a research vessel for the Coast Guard. The Storis was actually a commercial ship the

02:16Coast Guard bought, retrofitted, and now uses as a gap-filling medium icebreaker until the new polar

02:24security cutters are ready to hit the water. Mercogliano says those future PSCs are an absolute

02:31must, and will be built with the help of both Canada and Finland as part of a deal called the

02:37Ice Pact. But the Ice Pact is moving at glacial speeds. Work started on the Polar Sentinel this

02:45spring. That ship will be the lead vessel in the polar security cutter class, but its delivery was

02:51pushed back to 2030. And there's no guarantees it won't get pushed back again. For more reporting like

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