USCG Healy icebreaker

Fast-paced life in the 21st century depends on a mechanised world. For several years now, amazing machines have been giving us the opportunity to see them in action. They play a definite role in our daily lives. Icebreakers are one such example. In the most dangerous corners of the planet, they battle the elements, cutting through waves to explore unknown territories or fighting Arctic ice to save people's lives.

The US Coast Guard ship USCGC Healy was built at Avondale Industries in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was launched in 2000 and is the newest icebreaker in America. The ship is 136 metres long, has a power of 30,000 horsepower and is capable of breaking through ice more than 2.5 metres thick at a speed of 3 knots.

The medium-displacement icebreaker is designed for scientific research in the high latitudes of the Arctic. It is the only one of its kind and allows access to the most remote corners of the polar belt.

USCG Healy icebreaker

Since 2003, the icebreaker has been doing more than just breaking ice. To conduct a wide range of research, the ship has over 390 square metres of scientific laboratories on board. A group of scientists is regularly on board to study the changing conditions of the fragile Arctic ecosystem off the coast of Alaska. They also explore uncharted areas of ice, study climate history and changes in the seabed relief. Researchers are trying to obtain a detailed map of the ocean basins.

The icebreaker is equipped with a complex of stationary multibeam echo sounders that act as a single side-scan sonar system, sending out multiple sound pulses to obtain an image of the seabed. In this way, American scientists have been able to add 11 per cent to the map of the Arctic Ocean. They have mapped areas that have never been charted before.

US Coast Guard icebreaker USCG Healy

As part of an international ocean research programme, an Arctic buoy is regularly launched from an icebreaker, which will float in icy waters for years, collecting and transmitting weather data. They measure location and atmospheric pressure and temperature. Using modern sensors, the seasonal drifting buoy will collect and transmit data on Arctic weather conditions to a satellite. This information helps predict weather in North America and will serve as an early warning system for severe storms.

As a US Coast Guard vessel, the icebreaker USCG Healy also serves as a platform for search and rescue missions and escorting ships in polar regions.

In April 2012, the crew of the USCG Healy was honoured for successfully escorting a tanker carrying vital fuel through extremely difficult winter ice conditions to the port of Nome, Alaska.

USCG Healy icebreaker escorts tanker Renda in Nome

In autumn 2011, a powerful western storm hit western Alaska, preventing the delivery of vital fuel supplies. Terrible snowstorms left 3,598 people in the small town of Nome on the southern coast of the Seward Peninsula in Alaska without fuel for electricity and heating their homes. The air temperature reached minus 40 degrees.

The US Coast Guard icebreaker USCG Healy was returning to its home port from a six-month Arctic expedition when it received orders to urgently escort the Russian-flagged tanker MT Renda to Nome. The ice conditions were the most extreme possible. Ice up to 2 metres thick surrounded the ship time and time again, threatening to crush it. After three days of battling the elements, the tanker successfully delivered 4,000 tonnes of fuel to Nome. The city was saved. This was made possible by the efforts of the crew of the USCGC Healy, who guided the ship through 1,300 km of ice in the heart of a snowstorm.