The US Coast Guard’s newest addition to its polar fleet, the icebreaking cutter Storis, arrived in Seattle July 11 on its journey north to assist in America’s Arctic and polar operations. The vessel, acquired as part of the Coast Guard’s modernization strategy, is the first polar icebreaker added to the fleet in more than a quarter-century.
The arrival follows a series of significant milestones since Storis began its journey northward, including a successful transit through the Panama Canal, testing of new operational systems, and the introduction of updated crewing concepts. The vessel’s integration is part of the Coast Guard’s broader Force Design 2028 initiative, aimed at enhancing capabilities in response to evolving maritime demands.
Once preparations in Seattle are complete, Storis will continue its transit north to Juneau, where the ship is scheduled to be officially commissioned into service Aug. 10.
As the nation’s third active polar icebreaker, Storis is intended to fill critical gaps in U.S. polar presence. Its acquisition provides an immediate operational capability to assure access to the Arctic and Antarctic regions, safeguard U.S. sovereignty, and support broader national security objectives. The addition of Storis is described as a bridging measure, providing vital surface presence until the arrival of new, purpose-built polar security cutters in the coming years.
Fine and dandy, PR looks great! This ship (boat?) is in concept, the Dutch Boy with his finger in the dike. It will be interesting to follow the first endeavor into Arctic ice of some weight and thickness.
Just saying,not complaining.
Senator Murkowski from the great state of Alaska worked hard for many years to secure the Coastguard icebreaker Storis and future purpose built polar cutters for our state which could have easily gone to the North East coast and the Atlantic.
We are all proud for her efforts 😉
That was in Dan Sullivans’ wheelhouse and he pushed it through.
But we are still faced with conundrum of buying a new icebreaker when manmade global warming due to CO2 emissions was just about to make all Arctic ice disappear for all time. No ice = no need for icebreakers.
Lisa has been leading that particular charge for decades, which is why she is over the top in support of renewables (solar and wind, though to be fair, she has swung in favor of GenIV nukes).
Icebreakers are a Good Thing if there is going to be no ice. You can believe one or the other, but not both. Which one do you believe? Personally, I believe this particular interglacial will end and things will get very cold again. How’s about you? Cheers –
Agimarc, and yet the Russians, Chinese, and many other non-polar nations are collecting icebreakers as fast as they can. They don’t appear to be alarmed about ice going away any time soon.
In all seriousness, though, thinning/melting ice in the Arctic creates a stronger draw to navigation…which then requires more icebreaker support because the ice is still very much present and thick, even if dwindling somewhat. We don’t even have the capacity to track foreign-flagged vessels up there currently.
Dave Hanna, right—Sullivan has held forth wonderfully. BUT everyone forgets that before he even made it into the Senate, this was something Governor Parnell was taking up. He always had his eye on Alaska’s national security role. And his right-hand-man for Arctic issues was Stefanie Moreland. She did a lot of the initial work on many things we are now seeing come to fruition.
The only thing Murky has worked hard at was impeaching President Trump in his first term on bogus BS.
She may get another shot at it after the mid terms if she can convince her fellow Democrats and Adam Shiffty to come up with a new lie.
It will be Murky waters for her next time around.
Gaslight much?
If she spent her entire career pushing for this, doesn’t that illustrate the level of her incompetence as a “leader” for this cause?
She is a senator, not a house representative or chief executive.
Right, so she spent a couple decades using her political capital and got a used ship that nobody else wanted. Thanks for confirming that it illustrates the level of her incompetence.
That’s one top-heavy boat. But any new ice breaker is better than no ice breaker. This was the former Aivik, the ship that lost the Kulluk tow, killing any chance for offshore oil exploration in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas. Bad luck. Double bad luck to rename any vessel. Hoping this does not pan out to be the case.
Hoping the good name of the older cutter Storis rubs off on this vessel. I was on an Aeroflot jet stopped from taking off from Moscow because the USCG Cutter Storus had just had a run in with the Soviet fishing fleet with the lead ship taking off with Coast Guard crew on board … after being caught in US waters. Our aircraft was full of US college kids on a language tour of the USSR (me included). It was a rather tense moment as to what would happen…. but also on board our plane was the poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko. The officials decided that two incidents in one day was one too many and we were allowed to take off.
From the Coast Guard… “On 17 January 1972 Storis discovered a Soviet supply ship, Lamut, and the trawler, Kolyvan, engaged in fishing support operations within U.S. territorial waters in the Bering Sea. After having been boarded by members of the Storis’ crew, the Soviets made an attempted escape into the ice. Storis seized the vessel and the ship’s master was prosecuted. A $150,000 fine was levied against the Soviets by the federal court. This was the largest fine to date for foreign flagged-vessels engaged in illegal fishing of US waters. “
Cool story! (No, really).
I don’t understand it being ported in Juneau. It seems Kodiak or Homer would be more appropriate.
The Coast Guard did a very exhaustive study and deterined that juneau was the only port that met al the necessary criteria. It was not a political decision nor a casual one.
Could they have homeported it any further from Arctic waters & still be in Alaska? LMAO!
Ketchikan, the ice is thinner there. Most of these infomercials at least give some kind of rating for the maximum ice thickness. Meanwhile, Russia has what, at least a half dozen nuclear powered ice breakers?
It’s moving from Seattle to Seattle North