Explore the aircraft, cutters and boats used by the Coast Guard to conduct various missions throughout the world.
ARCTIC OCEAN – The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy (WAGB-20) is in the ice Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2018, about 715 miles north of Barrow, Alaska, in the Arctic. The Healy is in the Arctic with a team of about 30 scientists and engineers aboard deploying sensors and autonomous submarines to study stratified ocean dynamics and how environmental factors affect the water below the ice surface for the Office of Naval Research. The Healy, which is homeported in Seattle, is one of two ice breakers in U.S. service and is the only military ship dedicated to conducting research in the Arctic. (NyxoLyno Cangemi/U.S. Coast Guard)
The Coast Guard Cutter Healy was launched in 1997 and commissioned in 200, joining the two Polar-class icebreakers. The Healy can operate in temperatures as low as minus 50 degrees Fahrenheit. The cutter is a capable platform for supporting other potential missions in the polar regions and is capable of accommodating two H-65 Dolphin helicopters or one Dolphin and one H-60 Jayhawk helicopter.