‍USCGC Healy: “High North” is in play

‍“The Arctic is fast becoming a theater of global competition and militarization.”

‍Bjarni Benediktsson, former PM of Iceland

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‍Introduction

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‍The US Coast Guard Cutter (USCGC) Healy (WAGB 20) is the United States’ largest and most technologically advanced polar icebreaker. Her keel was laid in September 1996. She was launched in November 1997 and delivered to the USCG in November 1999. 

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‍My interest in the Healy stems from my interest in the Arctic region from a national security vantage point. This question has dominated the news lately. However, this report is not about national security. 

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‍My objective is to acquaint readers with the Arctic region and the US Coast Guard. I’ll use the USCGC Healy as the catalyst. There is much to learn about the Arctic and Healy’s operations there teach us a great deal.

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‍Internationally, Healy is considered to be a military a ship. That said, she is primarily America’s premier high-latitude research vessel. I have been amazed by how much there is to learn about the Arctic. Of course, Healy also performs vital Coast Guard missions such as search and rescue, law enforcement, environmental protection, and maritime domain awareness in the polar regions.

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‍The term “High North” is usually used to describe the Nordic countries, Norway, Sweden, and Finland, but it is a term that has broadened its application to include Canada, the US, Iceland, Greenland-Denmark, Russia, the United Kingdom, and now even China. It’s a handy term.

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‍We Americans view the US as the center of the universe. That’s admirable and worthy. However, for my purposes here, let’s say that the North Pole is the center of the universe. This graphic displays the North at the center

‍and everyone else surrounding it. It tells a different story. That’s a story I wish to broach here, and I’ll use the USCGC Healy as my excuse to talk about it.

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‍The High North

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‍Bjarni Benediktsson, when he was Iceland’s Prime Minister (PM), said this in October 2024, 

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‍“Whether we like it or not, the Arctic is fast becoming a theater of global competition and militarization.”

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‍The competition currently is Russia vs. select NATO members. Some say its is Russia vs the US because Europe has depended so much on the US. I and others throw China into the mix. I will talk to these issues in a follow-on report in the future.

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‍The ice shields of the Arctic region are “softening,” such that it is becoming more hospitable to sea navigation. There are two main routes,

• Northern Sea Route (NSR) in light blue along the Russian Arctic coastline
• Northwest Passage (NWP) in red through Alaska and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago

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‍Both routes are available during limited times of the year, and each offers significant savings in navigation distance and time. The NSR presently is the most attractive, for those on good terms with Russia.

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‍There is a third route, known as the Transpolar Sea Route (TSR) in green. It runs through the open seas east of Greenland, directly across the central Arctic Ocean through the Bering Strait. It is attractive because it transits international waters outside of exclusive national economic zones. It has not yet attracted serious commercial interest and is navigable only by heavy icebreakers.

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‍Before we get too excited about commercial traffic through these routes, they all go above the Arctic Circle (N 65 degrees) and they can be difficult to navigate. In the vernacular, it’s no cakewalk to go through them.

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‍Shipping can access the two main routes through the Bering Strait. It can enter the NSR through the Barents Sea above Norway. Both the Bering Strait and the Barents Sea are choke points, as shown by the black circles on the graphic.

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‍Container ships, Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) carriers, and oil tankers are all in the shipping mix. Multiple kinds of military ships, surface and subsurface, crewed and uncrewed, can also operate in the Arctic. The USCGC Healy is a military ship, called a warship by some, though it is not meant to be a combat ship and has only smaller .50 caliber machine guns.

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‍Russia requires its approval to use the NSR. Canada requires the same for the NWP. This latter requirement is a bone of contention for the US, which I will discuss later.

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‍Numerous international and national governance structures and organizations have grown, attempting to shape the future of the Arctic. Each Arctic state has some of these, and the UN also has its fingers in the pie. The Arctic states are trying to secure their goals and interests. This has resulted in their dividing the Arctic into individual national domains, which in turn has resulted in territorial disputes and disagreements.

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‍There is an organization known as the Arctic Council. Each Arctic state is a member. It was set up to share knowledge, but it is evolving to advocate national agendas. It has little power and is of waning importance.

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‍Each Arctic state is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) except Russia. NATO has a complicated command structure to deal with the Arctic. Canada and the US are joined in the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) system that covers the Arctic and now includes maritime warning capabilities. The US Northern Command area of responsibility stretches from Mexico through the Arctic, and now includes Greenland. 

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‍Russia, too, is building an Arctic security apparatus. It aims to exercise strict control of the NSR and develop its northern regions’ resources and ship them to buyers.

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‍Go to Arctic Sea Routes

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