SEATTLE — She’s not the biggest ship around, but she’s the baddest of her kind, and now the Seattle-based Polar Star, the U.S. Coast Guard’s only active heavy-duty polar icebreaker, is heading to Antarctica to rescue two other icebreakers stuck in pack ice.
The Chinese icebreaker Xue Long, which helped evacuate 52 passengers from the trapped Russian ship Akademik Shokalskiy last week, is now feared to be blocked by ice, as well.
The Polar Star, a 399-foot, 13-ton powerhouse whose engines can deliver 75,000 horsepower, recently completed a $90 million, three-year overhaul, according to the Coast Guard.
With its specially designed hull, it can continuously break 6 feet of ice while moving at three knots, and break through a two-story wall of ice by backing up and ramming.
The icebreaker left Sydney, Australia, Saturday morning Pacific Time and is expected to be at the scene of the icebound ships — about 1,500 miles south of Hobart, Tasmania — about Jan. 12, said Chief Warrant Officer Allyson Conroy, of the U.S. Coast Guard.
The Polar Star, which finished its tests in Arctic ice in July, has been traveling toward Antarctica since early last month en route to its regular job — resupplying and refueling research stations there managed by the National Science Foundation.
On Friday, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, which is coordinating rescue operations, asked the U.S. Coast Guard for assistance after the Xue Long got stuck; the Russian and Chinese governments have also requested U.S. assistance, Conroy said.
“Our highest priority is safety of life at sea, which is why we are assisting in breaking a navigational path for both of these vessels,” said Vice Adm. Paul F. Zukunft, Coast Guard Pacific Area Commander, in a statement released by the Coast Guard.
“We are always ready and duty bound to render assistance in one of the most remote and harsh environments on the face of the globe.”
