Icebreaking 



Though the Coast Guard's predecessors were breaking Arctic ice 

 and helping ice-beset ships nearly 100 years ago, not until World 

 War II did the Coast Guard get ships entirely designed for icebreak- 

 ing. Four deep-draft icebreakers, the Northimnd^ Eastwind^ South- 

 wind^ and Westwind were built for polar and sub-polar use. All 

 but the Eastioind were lend-leased to Russia for the duration, so the 

 combined Navy- Coast Guard wartime team got through the war with 

 one sea-going icebreaker and a number of smaller vessels. 



Today the United States has eight sea-going icebreakers — five oper- 

 ated by the Navy and three by the Coast Guard. The remaining Coast 

 Guard icebreakers are : the Mackinaw^ built in 1941 for Great Lakes 

 duty ; the Storis, built in 1942 for sub-polar duty ; 26 buoy tenders and 

 32 harbor tugs with built-in icebreaking features, for use in the Great 

 Lakes and northeastern rivers and harbors. 



Icebreakers can do many jobs. They take part in search and 

 rescue, law enforcement, aids to navigation, and many other missions, 

 with their icebreaking ability latent until it is needed. 



Title 14 of the U.S. Code gives the Coast Guard broad authority 

 to break ice when and where it is required. 



Basically three specific functions require icebreakers: domestic 

 commerce ; military operations ; and oceanography and other scientific 

 exploration in the polar areas. In the latter two instances, both Navy 

 and Coast Guard have significant missions. Increase of icebreakers 

 to fulfill expanding requirements in these areas should be jointly 

 agreed upon by the Navy and Coast Guard. 



The Coast Guard has in normal times undertaken to keep open only 

 the principal harbors, bays, and rivers of the northeastern seaboard, 

 Alaskan waters, and the Great Lakes. (U.S. West Coast harbors are 

 ice-free.) 



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