
The Polar Star, the only U.S. ship capable of bludgeoning through heavy ice - pseudolus
https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2019-08-02/antarctica-polar-star-icebreaker
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breatheoften
I used to do oceanographic research and for a time the group I was part of
supported some science operations on the Healy — smaller coastguard icebreaker
for use in the arctic that is also based in Seattle. Man I hated sailing on
that ship compared to the smaller oceanographic vessels I was used to ... and
only ever did short week long sea trials for testing on that ship ...

The polar star tho — that thing barely looked like it floated — mad respect to
the people who keep that working and the amount of suffering that must involve
...

One of the things that was strange to me about the Healy was the crew rotation
schedule — there was very little continuity of personnel with military design
of all people must be on temporary assignments and therefore easily
replaceable ... seems like they can’t possibly do that with a ship like the
polar star where the deep ship specific knowledge _has_ to be on board ...?

~~~
boojums
Would you mind describing why there was so much suffering involved? For an
ignorant non-sailor, it is not obvious why that would be the case.

~~~
LeifCarrotson
Not a sailor myself but a machine builder, however, I've worked with enough
rustbuckets to imagine the pain.

On a new ship or machine, bearings are smooth. Fasteners are clean and crisply
torqued, you break them free once with equal torque and subsequently can turn
them out with your fingers. Hoses and wires are flexible and strong.
Everything is at the beginning of its service life, and after a break-in
period, likely has many years of trouble-free operation ahead.

The process for, say, installing a new gasket? 1. Turn the bolts loose with a
ratchet and socket. 2. Remove old gasket. 3. Install new gasket. 4. Reinstall
bolts, torquing to spec. Estimated time: 20 minutes.

Not so on an old girl.

Step 1. Wipe off the congealed grease and oil from leak above. Wire brush the
paint and rust underneath so you can get the socket over the bolt head.
Attempt to turn bolt loose. Get extension pipe for ratchet. Get impact driver.
Apply heat with propane torch. Apply heat with oxyacetylene torch. Repeat
escalation for each bolt, except #6 which breaks off in the blind hole, that
will need to be drilled out and have a thread insert installed. 2. Maintenance
used RTV silicone last time instead of gasket. Brush, scrape, and stone that
silicone-covered, corrosion pitted surface to clean, flat metal. The more time
you take here, the better the repair will be, but you're on your back in the
dark instead of in the machine shop working on new metal. 3. Gasket not
available commercially this time this time either, re-apply RTV silicone for
the next guy to deal with (probably you). 4. Bolts are stretched from heat and
corroded so don't thread in smoothly, heads rounded over, (and one broke), so
buy new bolts, which still don't thread in because threaded holes are likewise
corroded. Run tap into threaded holes, avoiding contamination of interior with
metal chips. Reinstall bolts. Torque to spec, as if that would keep this thing
from coming loose and leaking again in a couple months. Elapsed time: 4 hours.

And it needs service like,this all the time, because everything is at the end
of its useful life.

It's a lot like working with a buggy and brittle legacy codebase instead of
doing green-field development.

~~~
ethbro
OT, but a good place to ask: are there any good sources (online or off) for a
"0-60 farm repair primer"?

I feel one of the great holes in my education is as a mechanic, and while I've
picked up a bit along the way, I still stumble across things (like making
gaskets) that are well-known, just not by me.

Ideally, I'm looking for breadth-not-depth, with an emphasis on practical
applications and tips / tricks.

~~~
URSpider94
ChuckE2009 on YouTube is a great place to start.
[https://www.youtube.com/user/ChuckE2009](https://www.youtube.com/user/ChuckE2009)

Fair warning: he does veer into politics from time to time, but while I don’t
agree with his political viewpoints, this guy knows his way around a welder.

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batsy71
Lot of people ignore this, but NATO ally and a bigger Arctic stakeholder of
the western world, Canada has a bigger and pretty capable Arctic Icebreaking
fleet: [http://www.ccg-gcc.gc.ca/icebreaking/home](http://www.ccg-
gcc.gc.ca/icebreaking/home)

While, most of us would want to see US get bigger toys, we should collaborate
with allies on some of the Polar logistics.

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Lutzb
I was visiting the Polar Star when it was in the Hobart Harbour in Tasmania in
2005 or 2006. It was really awesome talking to crew and touring the ship. The
twin turbines inside left a lasting impression. We also got invited to the
crew reception that evening by the Australian Antarctic Division. I still
remember the mountain bike and snowboards on deck of the ship :). Good times.

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antupis
Four days later, the Coast Guard announced that a Mississippi company would
build a new heavy icebreaker by 2024 for $746million.

That is very expensive considering that our newest heavy ice breaker costs
"only" 123 million Euros.

[https://www.talouselama.fi/uutiset/uusi-jaanmurtaja-
polaris-...](https://www.talouselama.fi/uutiset/uusi-jaanmurtaja-polaris-
aloitti-suomen-jaanmurtajalaivaston-
uusiutumisen/957c010f-10b4-346e-9c89-21f028ee555c)

~~~
ceejayoz
The Polaris is half the tonnage, lacks helicopter ops, and isn't a warship
like the Polar Security Cutters will be. They're vastly different vessels.

~~~
tekkk
Enough different to explain why it's 5.5 times more expensive? Knowing US
military spending, F-35 as the most prominent example, it will surely be
engineered to withstand every possible scenario there could exist. And US will
have the most awesome ice breaker in the world, for sure. But is it wise
spending? Who knows.

~~~
jabl
I think the price for the awesomest ice breaker goes to the newest Russian
nuclear powered ones:
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_22220_icebreaker](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_22220_icebreaker)

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exabrial
I always thought it'd make a lot of sense for nuclear ice breakers to be a
thing. You need a lot of power and endurance, and the added weight would be a
bonus.

~~~
rdhatt
Russians thought so to, that's why they have 9 of them:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear-
powered_icebreaker#Rus...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear-
powered_icebreaker#Russian_nuclear_icebreakers)

~~~
The_rationalist
Fascinating, are you aware of a nuclear powered commercial cargo?

~~~
ethbro
The mobile nuclear-anything appetite drastically decreased when it turned out
enriched uranium proliferation was a huge concern.

It's one thing to sail a carrier group around the world.

It's very different to have a reactor sitting on a cargo ship, hundreds of
miles from anyone, alone in the middle of the ocean.

~~~
tomatotomato37
I'd imagine maintenance was also an issue. One thing people always neglect to
mention with nuclear energy is how eagerly it rips its own equipment apart on
the molecular level. For being the power source of the future they are
surprisingly close to 19th steam boilers in that regard.

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pmorici
Is it just me or does the use of the term "military industrial complex" seem
pejorative in this context? It feels like the author is trying to inject an
opinion in what should otherwise be objective fact based journalism.

~~~
mikeash
Funny how using a famous phrase coined by one of the most respected US
presidents can be so controversial.

~~~
pmorici
I'm aware of the origins of the phrase, it's the way the author is using it
that seems inappropriate for the context.

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encoderer
If the notion of a ship getting stuck in ice is interesting to you, read the
book Endurance about Shackleton’s failed 1915 polar expedition.

This is off topic but it’s a very good book.

~~~
DanBC
Or _Erebus_ by Palin.

[https://www.amazon.co.uk/Erebus-Story-Ship-Michael-
Palin/dp/...](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Erebus-Story-Ship-Michael-
Palin/dp/184794812X/)

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piokoch
In case someone missed that, this quote says a lot "Crew members scour EBay
for discontinued replacement parts."

