SEEN OFF WEST SEATTLE: USCGC Polar Star, northbound

| Seen at sea | West Seattle news

Thanks to Stewart L. for the photos! We mentioned back in October that the heavy icebreaker USCGC Polar Star would be heading to the Arctic – and today, it departed. As the Coast Guard noted in October, Polar Star usually goes to Antarctica to resupply McMurdo Station, but a “limited resupply” was planned by air this year instead “due to COVID safety precautions.” In the Arctic, the USCG says, the 44-year-old Polar Star will “help protect the nation’s maritime sovereignty and security.”

P.S. Stewart L. also shared this photo of other Coast Guard work in Elliott Bay today – as Aids to Navigation boat 55107 visited the navigational marker off Luna/Anchor Park:

D December 4, 2020 (9:09 pm)

Deployments are typically classified by their location and year. For example, Deep Freeze (Operation Deep Freeze – Breakout of McMurdo Station in Antarctica, which POLAR STAR typically does during our winter in the northern hemisphere) would be “DF20” for “Deep Freeze 2020”.Arctic deployments are based on season, and whether it’s western arctic (North of Alaska) or eastern (Greenland/Iceland and east) and year. So, you’d typically see a summer deployment as AWS19 (Arctic West Summer 2019).POLAR STAR is deploying on AWW20 (Arctic West Winter 2020). The last time the Coast Guard conducted an AWW patrol was 1984.They’ll be up north, in the dark until the spring. Keep them in your thoughts over the holidays.

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