Polar Star

Adm. Michel: Icebreakers are a national security imperative

The icebreaker-focused briefing served as an opportunity for the Vice Commandant to highlight two heavy icebreakers – the nation’s entire inventory of this strategic asset. Only one is operational, the Polar Star, and Coast Guard Cutter Polar Sea, the other heavy icebreaker, reached the end of its serviceable life in 2010 having suffered casualties to two main engines.


EASTERN PACIFIC OCEAN - Four crew members exit a self-propelled semi-submersible vessel prior to its sinking Sunday, April 3, 2011. The SPSS was carrying an estimated 5.8 metric tons of cocaine and crew from the Coast Guard Cutter Sherman, homeported in Alameda, Calif., interdicted it and took all four of its crew members into custody. U.S. Coast Guard photo.

CGC Sherman stops drug “sub”

For decades, the Coast Guard has been America’s first line of defense against drug trafficking on the high seas. Earlier this month, the crew of Coast Guard Cutter Sherman intercepted a self-propelled semi-submersible drug vessel, laden with a cargo of cocaine […]