Posted on 01/04/2014 2:33:13 PM PST by Third Person
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority’s Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC Australia) has requested the US Coast Guard’s Polar Star icebreaker to assist the vessels MV Akademik Shokalskiy and Xue Long which are beset by ice in Commonwealth Bay.
The US Coast Guard has accepted this request and will make Polar Star available to assist.
The intended mission of the Polar Star is to clear a navigable shipping channel in McMurdo Sound to the National Science Foundation’s Scientific Research Station. Resupply ships use the channel to bring food, fuel and other goods to the station. The Polar Star will go on to undertake its mission once the search and rescue incident is resolved.
RCC Australia identified the Polar Star as a vessel capable of assisting the beset vessels following MV Akademik Shokalskiy being beset by ice overnight on 24 December, 2013. RCC Australia has been in discussion with the US Coast Guard this week to ascertain if the Polar Star was able to assist once it reaches Antarctica.
The request for the Polar Star to assist the beset vessels was made by RCC Australia to the US Coast Guard on 3 January, 2014. The US Coast Guard officially accepted this request and released the Polar Star to RCC Australia for search and rescue tasking at 8.30am on 4 January, 2014.
The Polar Star will leave Sydney today after taking on supplies prior to its voyage to Antarctica.
It is anticipated it will take approximately seven (7) days for the Polar Star to reach Commonwealth Bay, dependent on weather and ice conditions.
At 122 metres, the Polar Star is one of the largest ships in the US Coast Guard fleet. It has a range of 16,000 nautical miles at 18 knots. The Polar Star has a crew of 140 people.
The Polar Star is able to continuously break ice up to 1.8 metres (6ft) while travelling at three (3) knots and can break ice over six (21ft) metres thick.
RCC Australia will be in regular contact with the relevant US Coast Guard RCC at Alameda, California, and the Captain of the Polar Star during its journey to Antarctica.
What’s the carbon footprint of this fiasco?
The Russians are the ones with the great icebreakers.
It would take awhile for them to reach the area, but
maybe they should start now?
LOL
Thanks to glowbull warming we don't need any ice breakers in the northern hemisphere this winter!
The coolng deniers have already been rescued.
The USCG is going down to rescue the crews of the shps.
Clearly the chicoms are liars ....:o)
Wiki claims the Polar Star can, "steam continuously through 6 feet (1.8 m) of ice at 3 knots (6 km/h)"
The Wiki on the Australian Aurora Australis says "The vessel can break level ice up to 1.23 metres (4 ft 0 in) thick at 2.5 knots (4.6 km/h; 2.9 mph)".
Wouldn't it be cheaper to just put Hilary in charge of the operation?
Yeah, I was wondering also who we are going to send the bill to?
We’re sending a ship that can break 6 meters, where the ice is piling up a lot more than that. I hope they know what they’re doing.
Sorry, 2 meters....
The correct response should have been “no, thanks”.
That is impressive!!
That is moving nonstop. The ram and back-up capabilities is 21 feet thick. Also listed in this article.
Get a charge card number upfront...start the meter running as soon as the decision is made to go...
Summer there. This happened to the Vikings after they settled Greenland. The Little Ice Age hit and their ships couldn’t get to their colonies. There was a brief respite, and when they got there everyone was dead. Of course Hansen proved that didn’t happen with a few tree rings.
This icebreaker was already on its way to deliver supplies to a US scientific station in the area.
it is summer in the Antarctic - winter is coming
Ice breaker basically plow through sea ice. The thick stuff they ride up on and break using the weight of the ship. They have a rounded hull and a sloping prow that allows this, but also makes them notorious for wallowing in heavy seas.
Summer has only just begun.
The U.S. Navy used to have polar icebreakers, I believe the last two were the USS GLACIER AND USS EDISTO. These platforms were transferred to the U.S. Coast Guard and the newer Wind class vessels were, I believe, Coast Guard from the beginning. Congress gave polar icebreaker duties to the Coast Guard sometime during the 1940s. In the 1970s two new polar icebreakers, USCGC POLAR STAR and USCGC POLAR SEA were commissioned and as time proceeded, the Wind class vessels were decommissioned. The newest polar icebreaker, USCGC HEALY is the only construction icebreaker in the fleet.
So the Navy doesn’t conduct polar icebreaking operations, that responsibility falls solely to the U.S. Coast Guard, the most professional of the three seagoing services.
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