After 17,000 nautical miles and 124 days at sea, the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Healy has returned to its Seattle homeport, the Guard announced Nov. 11. The crew’s journey was considered a historic one as the 420-foot medium icebreaker traveled in high Arctic latitudes and reached the geographic North Pole Sept 30, “only the second time a U.S. surface vessel had reached 90 degrees north unaccompanied,” USCG said.  The crew also provided law enforcement presence in the Arctic and the Gulf of Alaska. “It is more important than ever before to provide security and sovereign presence in the Arctic and expand oceanographic…