End-of-October update

It's been a slow October for my Substack column. Things will pick up in November

It has been more than a month since I’ve published anything about icebreakers, but I have a few articles in work and am expecting some relevant news in the coming days/months about the U.S. Coast Guard’s Polar Security Cutter and some European icebreaker programs. Today, let’s catch up on some other important items:

View of the Finnish Archipelago in October. Photo by the author.

A Warm Welcome

First, I would like to welcome all of the subscribers who have recently joined us here at Sixty Degrees North. We had a marked increase in subscribers through the past month or so as Brian Potter cited me in his article Why the U.S. Can’t Build Icebreaking Ships over at Construction Physics. Additionally, we picked up a couple of new recommendations from Ben Morgan’s Substack and a2NavArc’s Substack. Thanks!

Why Icebreakers?

A quick introduction for those of you just joining us: I’m a retired U.S. Naval Officer who spent twenty-four years of commissioned service as a nuclear-trained Surface Warfare Officer. I served on six different ships (including four aircraft carriers) but finished my career as the U.S. Naval Attaché to Finland. I was working at the U.S. Embassy in Helsinki, Finland when President Trump issued a Memorandum on Safeguarding U.S. National Interests in the Arctic and Antarctic Regions. The memorandum directed the relevant agencies to identify partner nations that had the capability to assist the U.S. Coast Guard in filling the gaps in its polar icebreaking capability through lease, purchase, or new construction of icebreakers. Learning about icebreakers and icebreaker construction became nearly my full-time job. It was certainly my main task, one that I enjoyed thoroughly. As an engineer, I found modern icebreakers to be fascinating and thought that cooperation with Finnish companies would be a great way for the U.S. Coast Guard to acquire more icebreakers.

I briefed many officials and wrote countless reports about what I had learned. As it turned out, the initiative was shelved following the 2020 presidential election. It is no surprise, especially to my Finnish colleagues, that the idea of U.S. cooperation with Finland (and Canada) is returning through the ICE Pact.

My goal in writing Sixty Degrees North is to put publicly available, yet sometimes hard to find, information about icebreakers and icebreaker construction in one place to help interested parties —including staff officers and policy makers— in learning about these fascinating ships.

A Slow October

October was slow here at Sixty Degrees North for a number of reasons. The first was our fall break, known as syysloma (autumn vacation) in Finnish. My wife and children had a week off, so we headed to a cabin within the Finnish Archipelago. And when you’re out of the office in Finland, you’re out of the office:

Additionally, many of the things I was researching resulted in dead ends. For example, I tried to find out the current status of the Polarstern II. For those of you unfamiliar with this vessel, it is the planned German polar research vessel whose design became the ‘parent design’ for the U.S. Coast Guard’s troubled Polar Security Cutter. The Polarstern II, however, had funding problems and was delayed for several years. According to a 2022 press release the ship was now funded and there would be a bidding process for capable shipyards coming soon. However, I cannot find anything public about the vessel since that news release (from June 2022). I’ve been unable to learn anything more about its current status.

Coming Soon:

There was some recent news concerning the ICE Pact and quite a bit about the Northern Sea Route and Russia’s Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) Arctic exports. I’ll comment on these in the coming days or weeks.

I’m also expecting news about Finland’s next icebreaker procurement and the U.S. Coast Guard’s Polar Security Cutter program. Updated information about the cost and timeline for PSC construction is due before the end of the year, but when it comes to the PSC timelines are notoriously unreliable.

And November will feature one or two more segments on the final days of my Great Uncle and namesake, Cpl. Peter Matyola.

With so much information due in the coming months, subscribing is the best way to ensure that you stay current on the news and its wider implications. Consider sharing with a friend, work colleague, or family member; it takes me some time to research and write these articles, so I’m happy to see them spread far and wide. It’s important to keep this conversation going.

Thanks for reading. Until next time,

All the Best,

PGR