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Rush for Arctic waters worries U.S.

New York: The American military, political and scientific leadership is reported to be worried over the U.S. ability to patrol Arctic waters in the face of Russia’s expansion of its icebreaker fleet.

The National Academy of Sciences, the Coast Guard and others have warned over the past several years the U.S. two 30-year-old heavy icebreakers, the Polar Sea and Polar Star, and one smaller ice-breaking ship devoted mainly to science, the Healy, are grossly inadequate, said the New York Times, adding the Polar Star is now out of service.

In the meantime, Russia has been busy expanding its fleet of large icebreakers to around 14, launching a conventional icebreaker in May and last year, the world’s largest icebreaker named 50 Years of Victory, the newest of its seven nuclear-powered, pole-hardy ships.

The leaders of the Pentagon’s Pacific Command, Northern Command and Transportation Command this spring strongly recommended in a letter that the Joint Chiefs of Staff endorsed a push by the Coast Guard to increase the ability to gain access to and control its Arctic waters, the report added. — PTI

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