US Coast Guard ice breaker to assist ships beset in ice in Antarctica
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority’s Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC Australia) has requested the US Coast Guard’s
Polar Star icebreaker to assist the vessels MV Akademik Shokalskiy and Xue Long which are beset by ice in Commonwealth Bay.
The US Coast Guard has accepted this request and will make Polar Star available to assist.
The
Polar Star has been en route to Antarctica since 3 December, 2013 – weeks prior to the MV
Akademik Shokalskiy being beset by ice in Commonwealth Bay. The intended mission of the
Polar Star is to clear a navigable shipping channel in McMurdo Sound to the National Science Foundation’s Scientific Research Station. Resupply ships use the channel to bring food, fuel and other goods to the station. The
Polar Star will go on to undertake its mission once the search and rescue incident is resolved.
RCC Australia identified the Polar Star as a vessel capable of assisting the beset vessels following MV
Akademik Shokalskiy being beset by ice overnight on 24 December, 2013. RCC Australia has been in discussion with the US Coast Guard this week to ascertain if the
Polar Star was able to assist once it reaches Antarctica.
More here:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/01/04/usa-to-the-rescue-us-coast-guard-ice-breaker-asked-to-assist-antarctic-rescue-vessels-trapped-in-ice-due-to-spiritofmawson-fiasco/IIRC the only ships with greater clearing capability are Scandanavian (Finnish built) and Russian, all working the Arctic Ocean and Baltic routes. Also, again IIRC the big Russian nuclear powered breakers have all been removed from service (some rumor of them being meltdowns waiting to happen.) It would take months before any of them to make the trip from one end of the world to the other.
I don't recall where but I think I've seen one or the other of the "Polar" sisters, good sized and impressive ships.
God Speed
Polar Star.Polar Star at work -
World's Greatest Icebreaker