In a changing Arctic, a lone Coast Guard icebreaker maneuvers through ice, geopolitics
By DAN LAMOTHE | The Washington Post | Published: September 4, 2017
ABOARD THE USCGC HEALY IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN — Coast Guard Ensign Ryan Carpenter peered north through a front window of this 420-foot long ship, directing its bright-red hull through jagged chunks of ice hundreds of miles north of Alaska.
It was only the second time that Carpenter, 23, had driven the 16.4-ton USCGC Healy, one of the U.S. military's two working polar icebreakers. He turned the ship slightly to the left in the sapphire-blue water, and a few seconds later, the ship's bow rumbled through the crusty white ice floe at about 10 mph. Metallic shudders rippled throughout the vessel, a feeling that Arctic rookies often find unnerving.
https://www.stripes.com/news/coast-guard/in-a-changing-arctic-a-lone-coast-guard-icebreaker-maneuvers-through-ice-geopolitics-1.486037#.Wa5mkdGQywX
