
U.S. Coast Guard cutter Healy returned to Seattle in mid-December following a 73-day Arctic deployment supporting scientific research missions, search and rescue operations, as well as training exercises in the region.
The Healy is the Coast Guard’s only icebreaker specifically designed to support Arctic research. It provides high-latitude U.S. presence and scientific access to areas too challenging for most research vessels to reach.
Throughout the cutter’s 2024 Arctic Fall deployment, the crew aboard the 420-foot polar icebreaker conducted three distinct phases.
Phase one was a collaboration between the U.S. Coast Guard, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), and the University of New Hampshire.
The interagency science mission to the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas north of Alaska combined oceanographic buoy deployments with a coordinated mapping effort to survey uncharted waters and acquire depth data along a portion of the Alaskan Arctic Coast Port Access Route Study (AACPARS) corridor.
The corridor is a Coast Guard-proposed preferred vessel route from Utqiaġvik, Alaska to the demarcation point of the U.S.-Canada border.
During the second phase, Healy hosted 10 postdoctoral researchers and junior faculty members from various institutions supporting the U.S. NSF-funded Polar Early Career Scientist Training project, with contributions from NOAA and the Coast Guard. The at-sea training and research opportunities for the early career scientists included seafloor mapping, water and sediment collection, and other scientific sampling across various disciplines in the operational areas of the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas and within the marginal ice zone.
During the Healy‘s third phase, the ship conducted a late-season transit of the western International Maritime Organization’s Bering Strait Routing measure through Russian territorial seas, ensuring a free and open Arctic region.
The crew conducted multi-mission operations throughout the Chukchi Sea, Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska and conducted training above the Arctic Circle to prepare future high-latitude polar operators. The training included helicopter operations and search-and-rescue exercises with Joint Rescue Coordination Center Juneau (JRCC Juneau) and Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak.
Also, while sailing in southeast Alaska, Healy was one of several U.S. Coast Guard and good Samaritan vessels that responded to the fishing vessel Wind Walker search-and-rescue case, which took place near Couverden Point, Alaska in early December.
“Healy’s Arctic West Fall deployment demonstrates the agility and dedication of the crew,” Healy Commanding Officer Capt. Michele Schallip said. “In addition to contributing to navigation safety and support of scientific research, our deployment exercised the broad array of Coast Guard missions we conduct in the Arctic.”

Seattle-Based Coast Guard Heavy Icebreaker Departs on Months-Long Antarctica Deployment
U.S. Coast Guard cutter Polar Star departed Seattle in late November for a deployment to Antarctica in support of Operation Deep Freeze, an annual joint military mission to resupply the United States Antarctic stations.
This marks the 28th year that the Polar Star is supporting the operation, which supports the National Science Foundation (NSF), the lead agency for the United States Antarctic Program (USAP).
Each year, the Polar Star breaks a navigable channel through the ice, allowing fuel and supply ships to reach McMurdo Station, which is the largest Antarctic station and the logistics hub of the USAP.
“After months of pre-deployment preparation and working together through various challenges, the cutter and crew are ready to embark on this enduring and critical mission,” Polar Star’s commanding officer, Capt. Jeff Rasnake, said in a USCG-provided statement at the outset of the mission.
The Coast Guard has said that it’s “recapitalizing” its polar icebreaker fleet to ensure continued access to the polar regions and to protect the country’s economic, environmental, and national security interests in the high latitudes.
Each year, the Polar Star’s crew commits significant time and effort preparing the 48-year-old cutter for the annual deployment in support of ODF. This year, the Polar Starcompleted the fourth of five planned phases of the service life extension project.