The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy (WAGB-20) in the ice, Oct. 3, 2018, about 715 miles north of Barrow, Alaska, in the Arctic. The Healy is in the Arctic with a team of about 30 scientists and engineers aboard deploying sensors and autonomous submarines to study stratified ocean dynamics and how environmental factors affect the water below the ice surface for the Office of Naval Research. The Healy, which is homeported in Seattle, is one of two ice breakers in U.S. service and is the only military ship dedicated to conducting research in the Arctic. U.S. Coast Guard photo by NyxoLyno Cangemi.

Coast Guard icebreaker crew completes second 2018 Arctic mission

The crew of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy completed their second mission of their Arctic West Summer 2018 deployment Thursday, Oct. 18. Mission 1802 was a scientific mission to study stratified ocean dynamics in the Arctic (SODA) for the Office of Naval Research. Healy is one of two icebreakers in U.S. service that serves American interests in the region helping us better understand, plan and prepare for increased human activity.


Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Paul Zukunft talks with crewmembers of Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Patrick Kelley.

Polar Star crew recognized for mission-saving repairs

Polar Star’s engineering crew knows more about the saga of aging cutters than the average Coast Guardsman. Every patrol, maintenance issues occur regularly, but Operation Deep Freeze 2016 was the “mother” of all casualties for the 40-year old cutter, threatening to halt a resupply mission for the U.S. Antarctic Program in Antarctica.