Cutters – Professional Mariner

01 Mar

White, black or red, Coast Guard needs new hulls

Professional Mariner StaffCorrespondence, Cutters

From patrols in the tropics to icebreaking in polar waters to fixing channel markers in the heart of America, the U.S. Coast Guard has a vital job to do. To address its 11 statutory missions, the service needs reliable, capable and state-of-the-art ships to meet contemporary threats and those of tomorrow. But over the years, the Coast Guard has had…

22 Dec

Polar Star swaps ends of the earth, heads for Arctic duty

Professional Mariner StaffCutters, Maritime NewsArctic, Coast Guard, icebreaker, McMurdo Station, Polar Star

The only surviving heavy icebreaker in the U.S. Coast Guard fleet, the 44-year-old Polar Star (WAGB 10), has a new winter mission after the COVID-19 pandemic caused the cutter’s annual resupply excursion to McMurdo Station in Antarctica to be canceled. Instead, Polar Star sailed to the Arctic in early December from Seattle, where it is home-ported, marking the icebreaker’s first…