The first two of 11 planned medium-weight icebreakers will be homeported in Alaska, although which cities remains to be determined, the U.S. Coast Guard announced Thursday.
The hope is a Finnish company building the vessels will deliver them by the end of 2028, according to a Coast Guard press release. That mirrors the same hoped-for timeline for the Storis icebreaker set to be homeported in Juneau once vessel updates and support infrastructure are sufficient for year-round deployment.
Coast Guard officials and Alaska’s congressional delegation hailed the announcement as a step toward the long-discussed plans to bolster the U.S. military’s presence in the Arctic. The Coast Guard in 2018 announced plans for new heavy-duty Polar Security Cutters that were supposed to be deployed starting in 2024, but with those vessels now delayed likely beyond 2030 efforts are shifting to other ships that can be put into service more rapidly.
“By strategically positioning these state-of-the-art icebreakers in Alaska, the Coast Guard will maximize our ability to defend our northern border and approaches, while reinforcing America’s maritime dominance in a crucial region of strategic importance,” Adm. Kevin E. Lunday, commandant of the Coast Guard, said in a prepared statement.
The first visit to Juneau of the Storis icebreaker — a private ship built in 2012 and purchased by the Coast Guard in 2024 in a politically controversial process due to its limited capabilities — was hailed as a significant first step toward the goal of an increased presence. The ship is scheduled to deploy to Alaska during warmer months and be upgraded in Seattle during the winter until 2028 or 2029, with up to 190 crew plus their families expected to be stationed in Juneau when the ship is homeported there year-round.
Funding for the 11 Arctic Security Cutters — to be built by companies in Finland and Canada — mentioned in Thursday’s announcement was approved by Congress last year as part of a large-scale U.S. Coast Guard expansion sought by President Donald Trump. U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, said in January he was told by Lunday up to four of the ships would be stationed in Alaska.
Sullivan, during a press conference Thursday following the Coast Guard’s announcement two ships will be homeported in the state, said he isn’t advocating for which communities should be selected. He also acknowledged the hoped-for delivery date of 2028 “is a very aggressive timeline.”
“The Coast Guard has not determined where these two additional Arctic security cutters are going, but they estimate the crew ranges on these shifts would be from about 80 to 140 personnel,” he said.
Sullivan said it is not known whether any of the nine other ships might also be homeported in Alaska.
A statement issued Thursday that includes the other two members of Alaska’s all-Republican congressional delegation — Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Rep. Nick Begich III — states the Storis is the first icebreaker to be homeported in Alaska, with other existing icebreakers currently homeported in Seattle. It also notes last year’s budget bill includes funding for light icebreakers and other Coast Guard ships, helicopters and other aircraft, and shoreside infrastructure.
This story was originally published by the Juneau Independent.
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