For the Royal Navy to have more of something than the US Navy is unusual, but it does happen and one example is icebreakers. The RN has one, HMS Protector – and the USN has none. America does actually have three icebreakers proper and various icebreaking tugs but these belong to the US Coast Guard. Pedantry, you’ll say, but you have to brag about something when you’re at sea for months on end. In any case, as a former captain of HMS Endurance – the icebreaker we had before Protector – my interest was piqued when President Trump stated a few days ago that “we’re going to order about 40 big icebreakers.”
There are plenty of sound reasons for him to say this. First, the US – Navy or Coast Guard, it doesn’t matter – clearly doesn’t have an adequate icebreaker fleet. The US is a maritime nation and more, an Arctic one, but they have let this capability wither. The Polar Security Cutter (PSC) programme announced in April 2019 is set to deliver three new Coast Guard icebreakers but Trump clearly believes this is not enough. And he’s probably right. The requirement to work in and around ice will only become more important over time.
For the Royal Navy to have more of something than the US Navy is unusual, but it does happen and one example is icebreakers. The RN has one, HMS Protector – and the USN has none. America does actually have three icebreakers proper and various icebreaking tugs but these belong to the US Coast Guard. Pedantry, you’ll say, but you have to brag about something when you’re at sea for months on end. In any case, as a former captain of HMS Endurance – the icebreaker we had before Protector – my interest was piqued when President Trump stated a few days ago that “we’re going to order about 40 big icebreakers.”
There are plenty of sound reasons for him to say this. First, the US – Navy or Coast Guard, it doesn’t matter – clearly doesn’t have an adequate icebreaker fleet. The US is a maritime nation and more, an Arctic one, but they have let this capability wither. The Polar Security Cutter (PSC) programme announced in April 2019 is set to deliver three new Coast Guard icebreakers but Trump clearly believes this is not enough. And he’s probably right. The requirement to work in and around ice will only become more important over time.