US Coast Guard icebreaker's Arctic voyage cancelled due to onboard fire

One of only two heavy icebreakers in active service with the US Coast Guard recently suffered an onboard electrical fire while it was headed for the Arctic Circle on a scheduled voyage.

Coast guard Vice Commandant Admiral Kevin E. Lunday confirmed the incident that occurred in one of the engineering spaces on USCGC Healy just as the icebreaker began its summer patrol in the Chukchi Sea off the coast of Alaska.

The ship is now headed for its homeport of Seattle but will first make a stop in Dutch Harbor. The cancellation of the voyage also means two scientific missions that would have utilised the vessel will not proceed.

Lunday said the repair effort will seek to make the icebreaker once again available for an Arctic voyage before the end of the summer.

Healy also suffered an earlier onboard fire while en route to the Arctic on August 18, 2020. The fire affected one of the two propulsion motors while the ship was 60 nautical miles off Seward, Alaska.

Following the earlier fire, Healy's scheduled Arctic operations for that season were also cancelled, and the ship needed to return to Seattle for repairs.