The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy (WAGB 20) returned to Seattle on Dec. 12 after a 73-day Arctic deployment. The 420’ polar icebreaker’s mission included scientific research, search-and-rescue operations, and training exercises, and was divided into three distinct phases.
In phase one, Healy collaborated with the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the University of New Hampshire to conduct an interagency science mission in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas. This mission included oceanographic buoy deployments and mapping uncharted waters to collect depth data for the Alaskan Arctic Coast Port Access Route Study (AACPARS). The AACPARS corridor, proposed by the Coast Guard, outlines a preferred vessel route from Utqiaġvik, Alaska, to the U.S.-Canada border.
During phase two, the Cutter hosted ten postdoctoral researchers and junior faculty members as part of the NSF-funded Polar Early Career Scientist Training project. This initiative, supported by NOAA and the Coast Guard, provided hands-on training in seafloor mapping, water and sediment collection, and other scientific sampling in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas and the marginal ice zone. Participants gained practical experience necessary for planning and leading future interdisciplinary scientific expeditions aboard U.S. Arctic vessels.
Healy then completed a late-season transit of the International Maritime Organization’s Bering Strait Routing measure in phase three of its deployment, navigating Russian territorial seas to promote a free and open Arctic. The crew conducted multi-mission operations in the Chukchi Sea, Bering Sea, and Gulf of Alaska, including training above the Arctic Circle to prepare future polar operators. These exercises encompassed helicopter operations, search-and-rescue drills with the Joint Rescue Coordination Center Juneau (JRCC Juneau) and Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak, and coordinated at-sea exercises with the USCGC Bertholf (WMSL 750) north of the Aleutian Islands.
While operating near southeast Alaska, Healy participated in the search and rescue response to the distressed fishing vessel Wind Walker near Couverden Point, Alaska.
