On December 23, 2024, the United States Coast Guard (USCG) made an exciting announcement:
The Coast Guard has officially welcomed its first polar icebreaker in more than 25 years – the recently acquired Aiviq, a commercial vessel that will be renamed CGC Storis.
I extend a hardy welcome to Storis. The USCG press release included some good facts about the newest member of its fleet:
- Storis is named aftrer “the original CGS Storis, a legendary light icebreaker and medium endurance cutter commissioned in 1942 that patrolled for submarines and ran convoys during World War II and led the first American transit of the Northwest Passage.” (Also see: Dedicated USCG article on the CGS Storis)
- The new CGC Storis has undergone limited changes since its acquisition last month. These included painting the hull red and labeling the ship as WAGB-21. (Note: “Last month” would be November 2024.)
- The vessel will be permanently homeported in Juneau, Alaska once the shoreside infrastructure is ready. The design and construction work for the homeporting project will take several years
- As of December 23, 2024, the USCG “only has two operational icebreakers.” One of those two icebreakers, the CGC Healy, “was temporarily sidelines after experiencing an electrical fire in July.” The other icebreaker, CGS Polar Star, “is nearly 50 years old.”
- The USCG purchased M/V Aiviq from Offshore Surface Vessels LLC for $125 million.
- The new CGC Storis, formerly the M/V Aviq, was built in 2012. It is 360-feet long and a class 3-equivalent icebreaker.
- Before it becaome a USCG vessel, the M/V Aviq “supported oil exploration in the Chukchi Sea off the coast of Alaska in the Arctic Ocean, and has deployed twice to the Antarctic.”
- The new CGS Storis will help bridge a gap while the USCG works on acquiring new Polar Security Cutters.
- “The initial commissioning crew of the future CGC Storis will consist of approximately 60 officers and enlisted personnel. They will be assigned in the summer of 2025.”
[Source: Kathy Murray for My CG]