Download or read book Polar Icebreaker Roles and U S Future Needs written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2006-01-08 with total page 53 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The age and condition of the U.S. Coast Guard's polar icebreakers are jeopardizing national security and scientific research in the Arctic and Antarctic, according to an interim report from the National Academies. Because of a shortfall in funding for U.S. polar icebreaking activities, long-term maintenance on these icebreakers has been deferred over the past several years, making the ships inefficient to operate and their technological systems outdated. Congress asked the National Academies to provide a comprehensive assessment of the current and future roles of U.S. Coast Guard polar icebreakers in supporting U.S. operations in the Antarctic and the Arctic, including scenarios for continuing those operations and alternative approaches, the changes in roles and missions of polar icebreakers in the support of all national priorities in the polar regions, and potential changes in the roles of U.S Coast Guard icebreakers in the Arctic that may develop due to environmental change. This brief interim report highlights the most urgent and time-dependent issues, and a final report, expected to be released next summer, will examine the type and number of icebreaking ships that the U.S. requires in the long term and other issues.

Download or read book Polar Icebreakers in a Changing World written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2007-03-14 with total page 135 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The United States has enduring national and strategic interests in the polar regions, including citizens living above the Arctic circle and three year-round scientific stations in the Antarctic. Polar icebreaking ships are needed to access both regions. Over the past several decades, the U.S. government has supported a fleet of four icebreakersâ€"three multi-mission U.S. Coast Guard ships (the POLAR SEA, POLAR STAR, and HEALY) and the National Science Foundation's PALMER, which is dedicated solely to scientific research. Today, the POLAR STAR and the POLAR SEA are at the end of their service lives, and a lack of funds and no plans for an extension of the program has put U.S. icebreaking capability at risk. This report concludes that the United States should continue to support its interests in the Arctic and Antarctic for multiple missions, including maintaining leadership in polar science. The report recommends that the United States immediately program, budget, design, and construct two new polar icebreakers to be operated by the U.S. Coast Guard. The POLAR SEA should remain mission capable and the POLAR STAR should remain available for reactivation until the new polar icebreakers enter service. The U.S. Coast Guard should be provided sufficient operations and maintenance budget to support an increased, regular, and influential presence in the Arctic, with support from other agencies. The report also calls for a Presidential Decision Directive to clearly align agency responsibilities and budgetary authorities.

Download or read book Coast Guard Polar Icebreaker Modernization written by Ronald O'Rourke and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2010-03 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Of the Coast Guard¿s (CG) 3 polar icebreakers, 2 ¿ Polar Star and Polar Sea ¿ have exceeded their intended 30-year service lives. Potential policy issues for Congress regarding CG polar icebreaker modernization include: the numbers and capabilities of polar icebreakers the CG will need in the future; whether to provide these icebreakers through construction of new ships or service life extensions of Polar Start and/or Polar Sea; whether new ships should be funded entirely in the Coast Guard budget, or partly or entirely in some other part of the fed. budget; and whether the Polar Star should be repaired and placed back into service. Charts and tables.

Download or read book Wind Fire and Ice written by Robert M. Bunes and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2021-10-01 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Between 1955 and 1987, the United States Coast Guard Cutter Glacier was the largest and most powerful icebreaker in the free world. Consequently, it was often given the most difficult and dangerous Antarctic missions. This is the dramatic first-person account of its most legendary voyage. In 1970, the author was the Chief Medical Officer on the Glacier when it became trapped deep in the Weddell Sea, pressured by 100 miles of wind-blown icepack. Glacier was beset within seventy miles of where Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ship, the Endurance, was imprisoned in 1915. His stout wooden ship succumbed to the crushing pressure of the infamous Weddell Sea pack ice and sank, leading to an unbelievable two-year saga of hardship, heroism and survival. The sailors aboard the Glacier feared they would suffer Shackleton’s fate, or one even worse. Freakishly good luck eventually saved the Glacier from destruction in the crushing ice pack, only to experience a three-hour fire that nearly killed one of the crew, followed by eighty foot waves that came close to capsizing the ship. Wind, Fire, and Ice is a story about a physician who starts out with a set of false assumptions—namely that he is going have an easy assignment and see numerous exotic ports, but then slowly comes to realize a much different hard reality.

Download or read book Need for Coast Guard Icebreakers written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries. Subcommittee on Merchant Marine and published by . This book was released on 1959 with total page 76 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Need for Coast Guard Icebreakers written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries and published by . This book was released on 1959 with total page 76 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Icebreakers written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries. Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Navigation and published by . This book was released on 1988 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The National Academy of Science sic Icebreaker Report written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Coast Guard Polar Icebreaker Modernization written by Ronald O'Rourke and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-04-03 with total page 58 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The operational U.S. polar icebreaking fleet currently consists of one heavy polar icebreaker, Polar Star, and one medium polar icebreaker, Healy. In addition to Polar Star, the Coast Guard has a second heavy polar icebreaker, Polar Sea. This ship suffered an engine casualty in June 2010 and has been non-operational since then. Polar Star and Polar Sea entered service in 1976 and 1978, respectively, and are now well beyond their originally intended 30-year service lives. Coast Guard polar icebreakers perform a variety of missions supporting U.S. interests in polar regions. A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Mission Need Statement (MNS) approved in June 2013 states that "current requirements and future projections ... indicate the Coast Guard will need to expand its icebreaking capacity, potentially requiring a fleet of up to six icebreakers (3 heavy and 3 medium) to adequately meet mission demands in the high latitudes...." The current condition of the U.S. polar icebreaker fleet, the DHS MNS, and concerns among some observers about whether the United States is adequately investing in capabilities to carry out its responsibilities and defend its interests in the Arctic, have focused policymaker attention on the question of whether and when to acquire one or more new heavy polar icebreakers as replacements for Polar Star and Polar Sea. On September 1, 2015, the White House issued a fact sheet indicating that the Administration wants to begin building a new polar icebreaker in FY2020, and that the Administration will also "begin planning for construction of additional icebreakers" beyond the one that the Administration proposes to begin building in FY2020. On October 26, 2016, the Coast Guard released a request for information (RFI) to receive industry feedback on its notional polar icebreaker acquisition approach and schedule. The summary of the RFI, dated October 25, 2016, presents a notional schedule for acquiring three heavy polar icebreakers under which procurement of long leadtime materials (LLTM) for the three ships would start in the fourth quarter of FY2019, the second quarter of FY2021, and the second quarter of FY2022, respectively, and the ships would be delivered in the fourth quarter of FY2023, the second quarter of FY2025, and the second quarter of FY2026, respectively. (Each ship would be commissioned into service a few weeks or months after it is delivered.)

Download or read book Coast Guard Polar Icebreaker Modernization written by Ronald O'Rourke and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 67 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Coast Guard polar icebreakers perform a variety of missions supporting U.S. interests in polar regions. The Coast Guard's two heavy polar icebreakers-Polar Star and Polar Sea-have exceeded their intended 30-year service lives. The Polar Star is not operational and has been in caretaker status since July 1, 2006. Congress in FY2009 and FY2010 provided funding to repair Polar Star and return it to service for 7 to 10 years; the Coast Guard expects the reactivation project to be completed in 2013. On June 25, 2010, the Coast Guard announced that Polar Sea had suffered an unexpected engine casualty and consequently will likely be unavailable for operation until at least January 2011. The United States, which has various interests in the polar regions, currently has no operational heavy polar icebreakers. The Coast Guard's third polar icebreaker-Healy-entered service in 2000. Compared to Polar Star and Polar Sea, Healy has less icebreaking capability (it is considered a medium polar icebreaker), but more capability for supporting scientific research. The ship is used primarily for supporting scientific research in the Arctic.

Download or read book Coast Guard Polar Icebreaking Operations written by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Subcommittee on Merchant Marine and published by . This book was released on 1984 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Coast Guard Authorization 1968 Icebreaker Program written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries. Subcommittee on Coast Guard, Coast and Geodetic Survey, and Navigation and published by . This book was released on 1967 with total page 92 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Considers H.R. 5401 and similar H.R. 5424 and H.R. 5451, to authorize FY68 Coast Guard appropriations for procurement of vessels and aircraft, including icebreakers, and construction of shore and off-shore establishments.

Download or read book National Science Foundation written by United States. General Accounting Office and published by . This book was released on 1995 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Coast Guard Icebreaking written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Coast Guard Polar Security Cutter Polar Icebreaker Program written by Ronald O'Rourke and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2019-05-22 with total page 66 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Coast Guard Polar Security Cutter (PSC) program is a program to acquire three new heavy polar icebreakers, to be followed years from now by the acquisition of up to three new medium polar icebreakers. On April 23, 2019, the Coast Guard-Navy Integrated Program Office for the PSC program awarded a $745.9 million fixed-price, incentive-firm contract for the detail design and construction (DD&C) of the first PSC to VT Halter Marine of Pascagoula, MS, a shipyard owned by Singapore Technologies (ST) Engineering. VT Halter was the leader of one of three industry teams that competed for the DD&C contract. The first PSC is scheduled to begin construction in 2021 and be delivered in 2024, though the DD&C contract includes financial incentives for earlier delivery. The DD&C contract includes options for building the second and third PSCs. If these options are exercised, the total value of the contract would increase to $1,942.8 million (i.e., about $1.9 billion). The figures of $745.9 million and $1,942.8 million cover only the shipbuilder's costs; they do not include the cost of government-furnished equipment (GFE), which is equipment for the ships that the government purchases and then provides to the shipbuilder for incorporation into the ship, or government program-management costs. When GFE and government program-management costs are included, the total estimated procurement cost of the first PSC is between $925 million and $940 million, and the total estimated procurement cost of the three-ship PSC program is about $2.95 billion.

Download or read book Coast Guard Better Information Needed Before Deciding on Facility Closings written by United States. General Accounting Office and published by . This book was released on 1988 with total page 24 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Coast Guard Polar Icebreakers written by Nathan L. Scott and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Polar icebreakers can operate in the extreme conditions of, and break through the thick ice found in the Arctic Ocean and the waters surrounding Antarctica. Congress has expressed concern about the Coast Guard's ability to meet its polar operations mission requirements in light of the condition of the Coast Guard's polar icebreaker fleet, and directed the Coast Guard to submit a comprehensive report on polar operations. This book examines the issues facing Congress on whether it will approve or modify the Coast Guard's plan for modernising its polar icebreakers. Congressional decisions on this issue could affect the Coast Guard's ability to perform its polar missions, funding requirements and U.S. shipbuilding industrial base. This book consists of public documents which have been located, gathered, combined, reformatted, and enhanced with a subject index, selectively edited and bound to provide easy access.