Coast Guard polar icebreaker Storis departs on its maiden voyage

Photo: Edison Chouest Offshore

The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Storis (WAGB 21) the first polar icebreaker acquired by the Coast Guard in more than 25 years, departed on its maiden voyage to safeguard U.S. sovereign interests in the Arctic and conduct Coast Guard missions, less than six months after the Coast Guard awarded a contract to acquire the former Edison Chouest Offshore vessel Aiviq and took delivery of the vessel.   

Storis will expand U.S. operational presence in the Arctic and support Coast Guard missions while the polar security cutter (PSC) class is in production. Storis will be commissioned this August in Juneau, Alaska, which will be the vessel’s permanent homeport once shore infrastructure upgrades are completed. Meantime, the vessel will operate out of Seattle while shore infrastructure work in Juneau is underway.

Acquisition of a commercially available polar icebreaker does not affect the acquisition of the PSCs, and the vessel will not be included in the PSC program of record. Storis was acquired under an accelerated strategy to bolster mission readiness in the Arctic region while production on the PSC progresses.

The acquisition was made possible through the Don Young Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2022 and fiscal year 2024 appropriations.

Storis’ departure is an early milestone in the service’s Force Design 2028 (FD2028) strategy, which includes reforming Coast Guard acquisitions to rapidly deploy capabilities to execute the Coast Guard’s missions.

Storis is commanded by Capt. Keith M. Ropella who currently serves as chief of cutter forces at Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington D.C., and who previously commanded Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star (WAGB 10), from July 2022 to July 2024.

The vessel is manned with a hybrid crew consisting of military cuttermen and civilian mariners. It is the second vessel in Coast Guard history to bear the name Storis. The original Storis, known as the “Galloping Ghost of the Alaskan Coast,” had a storied history conducting 64 years of icebreaking operations in Alaska and the Arctic before being decommissioned in 2007.