Ratickle
Founding Member / Super Moderator
As almost everyone on the planet is aware, the US Coast Guard escorted a Russian fuel delivery vessel to Nome Alaska and they finally made it.
I had an uncle who was a Coastie, so I follow some of their stories and events.
They put out a really good article on their Blog site I thought you may be interested in.
I don't know if everyone knows the US only has one funtioning Coast Guard Icebreaker left.....
The art & science of ice breaking
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Posted by: LT Connie Braesch
http://coastguard.dodlive.mil/2012/01/the-art-science-of-ice-breaking/
In the comments, "Steve" has this to say, and I agree completely ....
steve1752
I served as a deck watch officer aboard the USCGC Glacier from 1978-1980 and made 1 AWS as well as 2 Deep Freeze deployments to Antarctica. As I read about this latest "rescue mission" of the Coast Guard, it brings back memories of being in the "aloft conn" performing the various maneuvers described in the article.
It also brings in to focus how our nation's icebreaking capablity has diminished from 5 polar icebreakers in the fleet when I was an Ensign to 1 operational polar icebreaker today- at a time when there is renewed maritime interest in Arctic waters. We need to be concerned about our capability to respond to new, increasingly international, challenges in the region. The bitterly cold Alaska winter of 2012 reminds us of this need, and how it contrasts starkly with warm summers when it was possible to briefly patrol Arctic waters in a 378. Let's "gut" the 2 Polar class cutters as well as the Glacier and bring them back to the Coast Guard fleet with 21st century technology. As the article mentions, the "art and science" of icebreaking is ageless. The hulls of these 3 cutters are solidly capable of performing the same job they were designed to do decades ago. If the costs of new icebreakers are prohibitive, or leasing is not a viable option, then this option should be given serious consideration. Otherwise, we may end up in an unfortunate situation someday of having to call other nations to do the job for us!
Steve Ruta
I had an uncle who was a Coastie, so I follow some of their stories and events.
They put out a really good article on their Blog site I thought you may be interested in.
I don't know if everyone knows the US only has one funtioning Coast Guard Icebreaker left.....
The art & science of ice breaking
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Posted by: LT Connie Braesch
http://coastguard.dodlive.mil/2012/01/the-art-science-of-ice-breaking/
In the comments, "Steve" has this to say, and I agree completely ....
steve1752
I served as a deck watch officer aboard the USCGC Glacier from 1978-1980 and made 1 AWS as well as 2 Deep Freeze deployments to Antarctica. As I read about this latest "rescue mission" of the Coast Guard, it brings back memories of being in the "aloft conn" performing the various maneuvers described in the article.
It also brings in to focus how our nation's icebreaking capablity has diminished from 5 polar icebreakers in the fleet when I was an Ensign to 1 operational polar icebreaker today- at a time when there is renewed maritime interest in Arctic waters. We need to be concerned about our capability to respond to new, increasingly international, challenges in the region. The bitterly cold Alaska winter of 2012 reminds us of this need, and how it contrasts starkly with warm summers when it was possible to briefly patrol Arctic waters in a 378. Let's "gut" the 2 Polar class cutters as well as the Glacier and bring them back to the Coast Guard fleet with 21st century technology. As the article mentions, the "art and science" of icebreaking is ageless. The hulls of these 3 cutters are solidly capable of performing the same job they were designed to do decades ago. If the costs of new icebreakers are prohibitive, or leasing is not a viable option, then this option should be given serious consideration. Otherwise, we may end up in an unfortunate situation someday of having to call other nations to do the job for us!
Steve Ruta
