Trump Says He's Working To Get 10 More Icebreakers For The Coast Guard From "A Certain Place"

The War Zone ^ | 7/10/20 | Joseph Trevithick

[Lower Deck]

President Donald Trump says his Administration is working to secure 10 icebreakers for the U.S. Coast Guard. He also claimed that these ships would be cheaper to acquire than that service's future Polar Security Cutters, a new class of heavy icebreakers, the first of which is now under construction. This comes just over a month after Trump ordered the Coast Guard to review its existing icebreaker plans and to look into the possibility of buying or leasing additional ice-capable ships, including nuclear-powered types.

[Lower Deck]

I think nuclear power is the way to go, and the US Coast Guard needs at least one advanced, extra-heavy icebreaker that can punch through more feet of ice than current ships. They should also have very durable, deployable rescue vehicles that can “travel the last mile” for rescue.

All of which can be done with a conventionally powered ice breaker. Nuclear power adds to the costs, limits where it can be built to one shipyard, the Coast Guard has no nuclear-trained personnel, and adds to the eventual disposal costs. Conventional is a much more cost-effective solution.

[ridesthemiles]

A 20 year old Navy ship is a baby.

It takes over 5 years just to build one.

[BobL]

If they’re nuke Icebreakers, they’re Russian. Just don’t use their computers or comm systems.

[RinaseaofDs]

Maybe the Koreans. They are quite the shipbuilders of late.

As a former breaker sailor, this is good news. Canada is acting very strangely lately. I noticed the number went from 6 to 10 all of a sudden.

[RinaseaofDs]

Would disagree about nuclear. Take a nuclear power plant and run it into walls all day at 4kts. It’s a dumb idea, generally (not calling you dumb).

The breaker I was on was designed to break ice using the weight of the ship (dolphining). Modern breakers use ‘bubblers’ to float ice up on an air pocket and then use the stresses in the sheet to break it.

Ice breaking is really ice avoidance, and then deciding what to break and when to break.

Now that there are drones, I would imagine scouting has become extremely interactive. We used two helicopters to plot courses through the ice.

Normally, you don’t break at night, and you don’t break in the winter.

These new breakers are military, not scientific. If I were going to attack with breakers, it would be at night and in the winter. I’d be working on the tech necessary to allow my side to do that thing.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

“Nuclear-powered icebreakers are much more powerful than their diesel-powered counterparts, and although nuclear propulsion is expensive to install and maintain, very heavy fuel demands and limitations on range, compounded with the difficulty of refueling in the Arctic region, can make diesel vessels less practical and economical overall for these ice-breaking duties.”

Previously I said one nuclear powered ship, and I should include oriented to missions beyond the abilities of diesel powered ships.

Finally, consideration should be given to making the ships from public-private partnerships. This would mean having construction, repairs and maintenance as well as reactor operations being performed by civilian employees side by side with Coast Guard personnel.

[wolfman]

Expecting global cooling?