CG POLAR STAR

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United States’ Only Heavy Icebreaker Returns Home from Casualty-Ridden Antarctic Deployment

The United States’ only heavy icebreaker, the USCGC Polar Star, returned to its homeport of Seattle on Monday following a 105-day casualty-ridden deployment to Antarctica in support of Operation Deep Freeze. Operation Deep Freeze is an annual joint military service mission in support of the National Science Foundation, the lead agency for the United States Antarctic Program. This year marks the 63rd iteration of the annual operation. The Polar Star crew departed Seattle on November 27th for 11,200-nautical-miles trip to Antarctica. Upon arrival in McMurdo Sound, the Polar Star broke through 16.5 nautical miles of ice, six to ten feet thick, in order to clear a channel to the ice pier at McMurdo Station, the United States’ main logistics hub in Antarctica. On Jan. 30, the Polar Star escorted the U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command-contracted container ship Ocean Giant through the channel, allowing for the offload of 499 containers with 10 million pounds of goods to resupply McMurdo Station, Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station and other U.S. field camps for the next year. The deployment was not without its difficulties. As in years past, getting the 43-year-old Polar Star to Antarctica was accomplished despite a series of engineering casualties on board the ship. During the transit to Antarctica, one of the ship’s electrical systems began to smoke, causing damage to wiring in an electrical switchboard, and one of the ship’s two evaporators used to make drinkable water failed. The electrical switchboard was repaired by the crew, and the ship’s evaporator was repaired after parts were received during a port call in Wellington, New Zealand. At one point during ice operations, the cutter’s centerline shaft seal ruptured, allowing water to flood into the ship. Ice breaking operations ceased so Coast Guard and Navy Divers could enter the water to apply a patch so Polar Star’s engineers could repair the seal from inside the ship. The engineers had to don dry suits and diver’s gloves to enter the 30-degree water of the still slowly flooding bilge to make repairs. https://gcaptain.com/united-states-only-heavy-icebreaker-returns-home-from-casualty-ridden-antarctic-deployment/

Polar Star back in Seattle after fire

The "Polar Star" arrived at Seattle on March 10 at 11.45 p.m. and will go into dry dock to prepare for the next year's mission. The captain reported that many of the vessel's systems were nearing obsolescence. Some parts must be fabricated by hand because vendors no longer sell them.

Fire on ice breaker

The 150-member crew of the "Polar Star" fought a fire which broke out on Feb 10, 2019, at 9 p.m. in the ship’s incinerator room about 650 miles north of McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. After initial response efforts using four fire extinguishers failed, fire crews spent almost two hours extinguishing the fire. Fire damage was contained inside the incinerator housing, while firefighting water used to cool exhaust pipe in the surrounding area damaged several electrical systems and insulation in the room. Repairs are already being planned for the "Polar Star"’s upcoming maintenance period. The incinerator will need to be full functional before next year’s mission. No injuries were reported, and the cause of the fire was under investigation. On Feb 17 the ship berthed in Wellington and continued to Seattle on Feb 22. Report with photo: https://coastguardnews.com/fire-breaks-out-on-coast-guard-cutter-polar-star-650-miles-north-of-antarctica/2019/02/28/