[PDF] Coast Guard Cutters And Polar Icebreakers eBook

Author : Ronald O'Rourke
Publisher : Independently Published
Page : 66 pages
File Size : 28,51 MB
Release : 2019-05-22
Category :
ISBN : 9781099791260

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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.

Author : National Research Council
Publisher : National Academies Press
Page : 135 pages
File Size : 42,10 MB
Release : 2007-03-14
Category : Transportation
ISBN : 0309103215

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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.

Author : Roy M. Schulz
Publisher : Nova Science Publishers
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 32,48 MB
Release : 2013
Category : Icebreakers (Ships)
ISBN : 9781624175558

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"This is an edited, reformatted and augmented version ..."--Page [1].

Author : National Research Council
Publisher : National Academies Press
Page : 53 pages
File Size : 28,21 MB
Release : 2006-01-08
Category : Transportation
ISBN : 0309100690

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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.

Author : Roy M. Schulz
Publisher :
Page : 156 pages
File Size : 31,47 MB
Release : 2013
Category : BUSINESS & ECONOMICS
ISBN : 9781624175565

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This book provides background information and potential oversight issues for Congress on the Coast Guard's programs for procuring eight National Security Cutters, 25 Offshore Patrol Cutters, and 58 Fast Response Cutters. These 91 planned cutters are intended as replacements for 90 aging Coast Guard cutters and patrol craft. Additionally discussed is the sustainment and modernization of the Coast Guard's polar icebreaker fleet, which performs a variety of missions supporting U.S. interests in polar regions. The issue for Congress is whether to approve, reject, or modify Coast Guard funding and modernization requests and acquisition strategies. Congressional decisions could affect the Coast Guard's capabilities and funding requirements, the performance of polar missions and the U.S. shipbuilding industrial base.

Author : Robert M. Bunes
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
Page : 297 pages
File Size : 14,31 MB
Release : 2021-10-01
Category : History
ISBN : 1493063731

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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.

Author : United States. Government Accountability Office
Publisher :
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 50,38 MB
Release : 2023
Category : Icebreakers (Ships)
ISBN :

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The U.S. Coast Guard, a component within DHS, has stated that it does not have enough polar icebreakers to meet its missions in the Arctic and Antarctic. To address the gap, the Coast Guard is partnering with the Navy to procure three heavy polar icebreakers, known as Polar Security Cutters. The Coast Guard plans to invest at least $11.6 billion for acquisition, operations, and maintenance of these cutters. This report addresses the (1) factors that contributed to the PSC program’s design delays, (2) extent to which the program has established realistic schedule and cost baselines, and (3) status of efforts to maintain and extend the life of the Polar Star until the PSCs are operational. GAO is making two recommendations, including that DHS ensures the design is sufficiently mature before the Coast Guard starts cutter construction and that DHS ensures the Coast Guard adds the third PSC delivery date into its acquisition program baseline.