The crew of Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star, the nation's only operable heavy icebreaker, returned to their homeport of Seattle from a 101-day Antarctic deployment, March 10, 2015, the US Coast Guard news release said.
The crew deployed in support of Operation Deep Freeze 2015, a multi-agency operation managed by the National Science Foundation.
Polar Star will spend the summer months in dry dock preparing for next year's resupply mission of McMurdo Station, a U.S. Antarctic research center on the south tip of Ross Island.
After leaving McMurdo Station, Antarctica, the crew successfully rescued 26 fisherman trapped in a heavy ice pack and towed their vessel, the Australian-flagged Antarctic Chieftain, through about 60 miles of pack ice to open water where the vessel's crew could again maneuver.