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By Captain Ralph M. West, U. S. Coast Guard (Retired)
As I walked down the dock in Halifax, Nova Scotia, to join the Coast Guard icebreaker Polar Star (WAGB-10) for its deployment to the Eastern Arctic, 1 was impressed by her size. Although I had been skipper of a large icebreaker (Westwind [WAGB-281]) some years back, this vessel was much larger. Her bright red hull, 400 feet long and with its 83-foot beam, exuded raw power.
The next morning as we got underway, the engineering officer took me below to Central Control. There, a long, computerized panel with multicolored lights enables a two-man watch to control and monitor all propulsion equipment, permitting all five engine rooms to operate unattended. Three, 16-foot diameter, four-bladed, variable-pitch screws drive the ship. Six diesel engines can supply power to three electric motors, or if more power is needed, three gas turbines can drive
The Polar Star breaks her way through thick pack ice just south of Thule Air Base, Greenland.
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the shafts directly through reduction gears. The 60,000-shaft horsepower provided by these turbines will drive through six feet of solid ice without stopping, at a speed of about three knots. By backing and ramming ahead, she is capable of making progress through as much as 21 feet of ice. And with a fuel capacity of 1.3 million gallons, she has a cruising range of 28,000 miles in open water.
In the event Polar Star should be beset—that is, unable to move either ahead or astern—she is still not helpless. A heeling system, consisting of three pairs of connected tanks, are located on opposite sides of the ship.
Each pair contains 35,000 gallons of fuel, which can be pumped from one side to the other in just 50 seconds.
The three sets of tanks can generate a torque of 24,000 foot-tons to assist in breaking the grip of the ice.
Each year the Coast Guard assigns one of its two polar breakers to the Navy Sealift Command, to assist with the resupply of military bases in the Eastern Arctic and to provide support for scientific expeditions in that area.
In 1989, the major flow of cargo and petroleum products was delivered between 20 June and 5 September. Polar Star made rendezvous with cargo ships and tankers to route and escort them through the ice.
For this trip we carried a crew of 157, plus four pilots and ten crew for the helicopters. There were also six first-class cadets from the Coast Guard Academy on board for their summer training cruise. Later, groups of scientists joined the ship to carry out their particular projects.
Helicopters were on board for any major ice deployments that required reconnaissance, cargo transfer, support for scientific expeditions, or search and rescue. Flying over the icy Arctic waters can be hazardous, especially along the Greenland coast, where the foehn (a warm, dry wind) blowing from the ice cap can reach 100 knots and reduce visibility to zero in a very short time.
Clockwise from top: “Rusty Trusty 52,” one of the last two helicopters of its type (HH-52A) in service; from the bridge, an iceberg in North Star Bay; the ice-reinforced Green Wave follows astern; the author goes ashore at Thule.
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controls, steering lever, radar, and chart table. From here the crew can more easily see open leads or ice ridges that might stop the ship.
If we were to slow down in heavy ice, the conning officer would turn on a masthead strobe light and warn the following ship by radio so she could back down in time or shear off into the ice to avoid collision.
The fog that covered us for days finally lifted. Helicopters flew out ahead to report on ice conditions, and I was strapped with my cameras in a seat by an open hatch. Ice extended out to the horizon with scattered bergs and patches of brilliant green water lying atop the ice. Then, far out ahead, under a low-lying line of dark clouds, an ice edge appeared that would give us a clear run to within 50 miles of Thule, where we would again enter the ice.
By noon the next day the Green Wave was moored alongside the dock,
This iceberg towers more than 200 feet above the surface. But much more of it lies underneath—a hazard to seafarers.
This year, ice conditions in Baffin Bay were much heavier than usual. Some 300 miles from Thule Air Base, we were encountering four feet of ice and scattered bergs. The ice-reinforced merchant vessel Green Wave followed in our wake of broken ice, holding 1,000 yards astern in thick fog.
We were in diesel-electric drive, with six diesels on the line, commonly described as, “six turnin’ and three churnin’.” Should the ice get heavier, the diesels would be secured, and the turbines would take over.
Ship’s control had been shifted from the bridge to “aloft conn,” a small, enclosed conning station, high on the mast, just large enough for three or four people. It is outfitted with engine offloading her much needed cargo, with Polar Star in North Star Bay.
During our second night at anchor we were introduced to the famous Greenland foehns. As the sustained wind speed suddenly increased to 65 knots, the shore ice at the head of the bay broke loose and drifted down on our ship. Even with two, 9,000-pound anchors down we began to drag. We were forced to get underway and move out into the pack ice for the night.
In the next three weeks the Green Wave was escorted back south through the ice, two Danish ships and a Canadian ship were freed after being trapped in the ice, and the first of two tankers scheduled for Thule Air Base was escorted north.
Between escort missions, Polar Star cruised north into the Kane Basin to monitor the ice conditions. Heavy pack ice finally stopped our ship in the Kane Basin just to the east of Pirn Island, where the Greely expedition came to such a sad end by starvation and cannibalism in the 1880s.
With its resupply mission complete, Polar Star proceeded through the Northwest Passage, through northern Canada into the Beaufort Sea, to Point Barrow on the north coast of Alaska. There, a group of scientists came aboard for a ten-day trip into the polar ice to take core samples of the bottom.
After this detail, she continued to her home port in Seattle for a two-month respite before embarking on a four- month deployment to the Antarctic.
Such is the heavy schedule of a Coast Guard icebreaker.
It should be noted that plans have been approved for a third ship. Considerably larger than Polar Star, this vessel will be 465 feet long and have space to accommodate 30 scientists, their laboratories, and assorted gear.
These research facilities are designed to meet the needs of a number of users: The Department of Defense, The National Science Foundation, the U. S. Geologic Survey, and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.
With the Arctic and Antarctic regions making up a major portion of the earth’s surface, it is encouraging that the United States recognizes the importance of maintaining a scientific and military presence in these areas.
Captain West spent six weeks on board the Polar Star during the late summer of 1989. Retired after 30 years in the Coast Guard, including duty as the commanding officer of the icebreaker Westwind, he now resides in Maryland.