But ice operations are just one of the 11 statutory missions for the Coast Guard.
“A polar security cutter has to be capable to do all the Coast Guard missions,” said Cmdr. Cory Riesterer, director of the polar operations division with Cutter Forces Pacific Area. “Ice breaking is a key capability to get us up there, but once we’re up there, we’ve got to be able to do everything else, as well.”
“What may appear to be an apparent ‘ice-free’ area can change very quickly and beset vessels who are little prepared to cope with ice conditions. Further, as great powers and a host of other actors conduct navigation across the Arctic, USCG icebreakers are needed to project U.S. sovereignty in order to secure U.S. territorial waters and protect U.S. national interests in the ice-laden waters of the Arctic that will remain seasonally a factor for many decades to come.”
According to Riesterer, ships can only operate in the Arctic at certain times of year. “Even Healy isn’t capable of being in the Arctic year-round, because they’re a medium icebreaker. There’s just too much ice in the winter. So basically, we’re trying to operate the ice breaker up in the summer. That’s when we most need to be there because that’s when the fishing and shipping is up there, and when our competitors are up there.”
Riesterer said that the first-year ice – the ice that freezes every year and then goes away in the summer – is not the big issue. The multi-year ice that remains in late summer and early autumn breaks apart and is pushed against the Northern Canadian islands and the North Slope of Alaska. “It’s a huge amount of ice, and so thick that no ship is going to break it. You can predict that it will happen, but not exactly how or where it will be packed the most.”
The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy, a 420 ft. medium icebreaker homeported in Seattle, Washington, breaks ice in support of scientific research in the Arctic Ocean. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer Prentice Danner.
Commercial interests are always going to push the limits of the frontier, looking for the newest or best resource or easiest access resource, tourists wanting to see the Arctic, or knowing what’s up there to make a claim. Riesterer said that people will always be there to operate on the edges of the ice and that’s why you need the ice-reinforced or ice-capable and rated vessels to be able to be there.
Retired U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Randy Kee, executive director of the Arctic Domain Awareness Center at the University of Alaska, said the rapidly changing physical environment is the “Arctic security catalyst” that allows increased seasonal activity, which in turn drives higher defense, security, law enforcement, environmental protection, and safety needs.
According to Kee, complicating matters is the fact that more mariners are taking more risks in sailing vessels into Arctic areas where sea ice conditions change frequently. “What may appear to be an apparent ‘ice-free’ area can change very quickly and beset vessels who are little prepared to cope with ice conditions. Further, as great powers and a host of other actors conduct navigation across the Arctic, USCG icebreakers are needed to project U.S. sovereignty in order to secure U.S. territorial waters and protect U.S. national interests in the ice-laden waters of the Arctic that will remain seasonally a factor for many decades to come.”