Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect that President Donald Trump has called for 40 new icebreaker ships with the new federal spending law funding 17 new icebreakers.
(NewsNation) — The U.S. is taking steps to get ahead of global adversaries when it comes to the changing landscape in the Arctic, with President Donald Trump calling for 40 additional icebreaker ships to be added to the Coast Guard’s fleet.
NewsNation got an exclusive first look at one of the heavy-duty ships that is currently being retrofitted before it’s commissioned in Alaska.
The Storis, named using a Scandinavian word that means “great ice,” will be the first new icebreaker to join the polar fleet in 25 years. It’s also the second Storis, a nod to a historic Coast Guard ship that operated for 64 years before being decommissioned.
The U.S. needs more icebreakers because the Arctic region is changing fast due to climate change, melting ice, and increased ship traffic.
Icebreakers can open channels in icy seas, enabling other ships to deliver supplies to remote communities, respond to oil spills, enforce regulations and conduct search-and-rescue missions in the region.
The Coast Guard needs more major hardware to patrol the icy waters where Russia and China have been building up a presence and holding joint exercises for years.
The Storis is a previously owned vessel being retrofitted by the Coast Guard, a convenient stopgap in times of need.
Funding in Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” will get the ball rolling on 17 additional icebreakers, but delivery may take another decade. The bill puts about $300 million toward building new infrastructure for the Storis at its future home in Juneau, Alaska.
Commanding officer Capt. Corey Kerns has a unique mission ahead.
“Ice-breaking is important because we want to have access to our Arctic waters,” said Kerns. “The United States is an Arctic nation, and we need to have a presence to project our sovereignty in our Arctic waters.”
While icebreakers are used for many non-wartime functions, they could also prove valuable if conflict were to arise.
“Part of the reason why the Coast Guard operates Arctic icebreakers is to provide access not just for commercial but for the United States Navy, so if the Navy needed to operate there in wartime, we would be there to ensure that they could have full access to the Arctic,” Kerns said.
The Storis is temporarily berthed in Seattle before it heads out next week to be commissioned in Alaska and sent out on its first Arctic mission in the Arctic and Bering Seas.
Even with this addition, the U.S. still only has three icebreakers for the entire region, as climate change and melting ice are opening up new, previously untapped areas for mining.
In comparison, Russia has over 40 icebreakers, with more under construction, and China has five icebreakers and more on the way as well.
“Russians obviously operate a lot in the Arctic. In recent years, they’ve started operating with the People’s Republic of China and their navy in the Bering and in the Arctic, and recently, the Russian Border Force and the China Coast Guard made a combined deployment into the Arctic,” Kerns said.
Another U.S. icebreaker is under construction now, and as the possibility of a potential cold war over untapped resources in the future looms, the U.S. is also beefing up its number of military personnel in the region.
More than 22,000 active-duty service members are now stationed in Alaska, including specialized Army units that have been undergoing Arctic training for several years.