The U.S. Coast Guard commissioned its first oceangoing icebreaker in 25 years on Saturday, a former commercial vessel that will now project national security interests for the country, as well as contribute to search-and-rescue and environmental missions in Arctic waters.
The scheduled ceremony, held in Juneau, Alaska, corresponded with the largest deployment ever of Chinese icebreaking research vessels in the Arctic. Since July, China has sent five icebreakers to the region, according to the maritime publication gCaptain.
The deployments mark the first time China has had more than three research vessels with icebreaking capabilities in the Arctic. Coast Guard officials said over the weekend that two of the ships entered U.S. Arctic territory.
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“Storis adds vital capabilities to the U.S. polar icebreaker fleet at a critical time when our adversaries are expanding their activities in near-U.S. waters, and the challenges and threats we face as a nation are growing more complex every day,” acting Commandant Adm. Kevin Lunday said during the Storis’ commissioning ceremony.
The Coast Guard acquired the commercial vessel Aiviq, an oil exploration support vessel built in 2012, for $125 million and modified it for service operations. It is to serve as an additional platform for Arctic operations until the Coast Guard receives the first of three new heavy icebreakers, known as polar security cutters, in 2030.
The vessel was named Storis to honor a cutter that sailed the Bering Sea and Alaskan coast for more than 60 years, its crews saving hundreds of distressed mariners and responding to the nation’s biggest earthquake.
The new Storis, WAGB-21, will be homeported in Juneau once the infrastructure is built to accommodate the ship and its crew. In the meantime, it will be housed in Seattle with the service’s heavy icebreaker Polar Star and medium icebreaker Healy.
During the commissioning ceremony, Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Troy Edgar said the commissioning of Storis is part of the nation’s investment in the Coast Guard, a service that has long operated on a tight budget with few resources for building new ships or maintaining its infrastructure.
The service received an unprecedented $25 billion in the Trump administration’s investment legislation known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act to invest in vessels, aircraft and shore facilities.
“We really are focused on making sure that our adversaries get a clearer message that we will not back down,” Edgar said during the ceremony. “The Coast Guard really protects our border on the North. … We are drawing a line in the sand.”
The effort for the U.S. to buy a commercial icebreaker for Coast Guard use was first floated roughly a decade ago, but it was made possible through the Don Young Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2022 and finally funded in the service’s fiscal 2024 appropriations legislation.
Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, has been working on the project since 2020. During the ceremony Saturday, he said the Storis is an important component of national security.
“This region is undergoing monumental change. Sea ice is receding. New trade routes are opening. Vast reserves of natural resources are becoming accessible. And our adversaries are moving fast to assert control,” Sullivan said. “These are not one-offs. These are warning signs. If we’re not ready to lead in the Arctic, others will — and they’ll be happy to do it for us.”
The Coast Guard gave tours of the Storis last weekend. It departed Juneau on Monday heading for Seward, according to the Marine Traffic ship-tracking website.
The service also commissioned a new fast patrol cutter in Kodiak, Alaska, on Monday — the Earl Cunningham, which is the Coast Guard’s 59th ship of its type. The cutter is named for a surfman who died on Lake Michigan in 1936 trying to rescue two ice fishermen who were trapped in the ice.
He received the Gold Lifesaving Medal posthumously for his bravery, according to the Coast Guard.
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