USCG heavy icebreaker Cutter Polar Start returns home after Antarctic deployment
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.