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Tag: Icebreaking

Rare photograph of Bear sitting in the ice while aiding another vessel. (U.S. Coast Guard)

April 4, 2025

America’s first ice ships and icebreakers

As maritime interests chased valuable resources into icebound waters and commercial shipping continued further into the winter months, the duties of the Revenue Cutter Service increased in frozen areas previously considered unsafe in wintertime.

Coast Guard Cutter Morro Bay cuts through ice on February 10, 2021 on the St. Clair River in support of Operation Coal Shovel. Operation Coal Shovel is an annual domestic ice-breaking mission conducted on Lakes Huron, Ontario, Erie, St. Clair, the St. Clair/Detroit river system and St. Lawrence Seaway. Courtesy photo by Gary Baumgarten.

Feb. 26, 2021

Icebreaking on the Great Lakes requires great partnerships

Icebreaking operation keeps the economy moving on the Great Lakes.

Feb. 12, 2021

A Break in the Silence

Anecdote from a U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker’s winter Arctic patrol

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