PACIFIC MARITIME MAGAZINE
Icebreakers – Expanding the World’s Fleet
By By Jim Shaw
The US needs new icebreakers but they may be a long time in coming. Although President Obama proposed speeding the acquisition and building of new Coast Guard icebreakers during a visit to Alaska last year, and Senators Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow have since called for funding to build a new icebreaker for the Great Lakes, the head of the Coast Guard’s acquisition office, Rear Admiral Mike Haycock, said production of a new heavy icebreaker might be at least five years off with a construction cost estimate of more than a billion dollars. Until then, the Coast Guard will have to make due with the 40-year-old Polar Star, a Seattle-based ship that has been living off spare parts provided by its retired sister ship Polar Sea… MORE
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