Coast Guard's only heavy icebreaker develops shaft seal leak

Photo By Senior Chief Petty Officer NyxoLyno Cangemi | U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer 2nd Class Dan Morales uses a water ram to clear a clogged shaft seal drain pipe Jan. 10, 2020, aboard the U.S Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star about 18 miles north of McMurdo Station, Antarctica. The shaft was a source of a leak during Operation Deep Freeze 2018-2019, which required the use of Coast Guard divers to effect the repair from underneath the 399-foot icebreaker. The crew of Polar Star is participating in Operation Deep Freeze 2019-2020 in order to break the ice near McMurdo Station in order escort refuel and resupply ship. U.S. Coast Guard photograph by Senior Chief Petty Officer NyxoLyno Cangemi  

ANTARCTICA

01.10.2020

Story by Senior Chief Petty Officer NyxoLyno Cangemi    

U.S. Coast Guard Pacific Area

MCMURDO STATION, Antarctica – One of the main shaft seals onboard the Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star (WAGB-10) began leaking Friday about 18 miles north of McMurdo Station, Antarctica.

Crew members used a hand pump air ram to free a clog in the shaft seal drain pipe and tightened the bolts surround the seal in order to stop the leak.

The shaft seal was a source of a leak during Operation Deep Freeze 2018-2019, which required the use of Coast Guard divers to effect the repair from underneath the 399-foot icebreaker. The crew of Polar Star is participating in Operation Deep Freeze 2019-2020 in order to break the ice near McMurdo Station in order escort refuel and resupply ship.

Homeported in Seattle, the 44-year-old Coast Guard cutter is the United States’ only operational heavy icebreaker, and the crew is making their seventh deployment in as many years to directly support McMurdo Station – the United States’ main logistics hub in Antarctica.

Each year, the Polar Star crew creates a navigable path through seasonal and multi-year ice, sometimes as much as 21-feet thick, to allow refueling and resupply ships to reach McMurdo Station.

Commissioned in 1976, the Polar Star is showing its age. Reserved for Operation Deep Freeze each year, the Polar Star spends the winter breaking ice near Antarctica, and when the mission is complete, the Polar Star returns to dry dock in order to complete critical maintenance and repairs in preparation for the next Operation Deep Freeze mission. Once out of dry dock, the ship returns to Antarctica, and the cycle repeats itself.

If a catastrophic event, such as getting stuck in the ice, the U.S. Coast Guard is left without a self-rescue capability.

By contrast, Russia currently operates more than 40 icebreakers – several of which are nuclear powered.

The Coast Guard has been the sole provider of the nation’s polar icebreaking capability since 1965, and is seeking to increase its icebreaking fleet with six new polar security cutters in order to ensure continued national presence and access to the Polar Regions.

The Navy awarded a $746 million contract April 23, 2019, to VT Halter Marine in Pascagoula, Mississippi, for a new heavy polar security cutter and is expected to deliver the new cutter by 2024.

-USCG-

• Date Taken: 01.10.2020
• Date Posted: 01.22.2020 14:59
• Story ID: 358616
• Location: AQ