The Seattle-based Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star is at anchor in Puget Sound Monday, December 7, 2020 ahead of the crew’s months-long deployment to the Arctic. The 44-year-old heavy icebreaker will project power and support national security objectives throughout Alaskan waters and into the Arctic, including along the Maritime Boundary Line between the United States and Russia. U.S. Coast Guard Photo by Petty Officer First Class Cynthia Oldham.
The Seattle-based Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star, the nation’s sole heavy icebreaker, is making its way north for the ship’s first winter Arctic deployment since 1982.
When Polar Star’s annual resupply mission at McMurdo Station in Antarctica was cancelled due to COVID safety precautions at the station, Coast Guard leaders seized the opportunity to coordinate a future-focused Arctic deployment.