So the US gets a windmill boat but we can’t get a desperately needed icebreaker? If the Polar Sea has a major breakdown, McMurdo Sound is SOL. I guess it depends on what your priorities are. Apologies for sounding just a bit bitter.
" I’ll have both thanks",
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So typical of our politicians. They love to spend our money, just not in the best way. It’s as though they don’t think or comprehend the real situations. Most money decisions are made to satisfy the donor class.
I don’t quite see the correlation…is this a commentary on Dominion Energy launching a wind turbine installation vessel?
What does a private company building an industry related ship have anything to do with the USCG not building an icebreaker?
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Or the jobs in my home state/district so I can get reelected.
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I should have gone more in depth. I’m just FRUSTRATED because someone needs a “wind boat”, they get one. The Coast Guard needs an icebreaker, and what do we get? "Um, uh, I don’t know, the shipyard is ‘having issues’, and on and on and on. To paraphrase Sandra Bullock in “Blind Side” “BUILD THE DANG BOAT!”
Polar Star.
Polar Sea already had a major breakdown…
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Because she is docked next to Pier 36, the Coast Guard pier, they call her Pier 37. She is being used as a parts source or the Polar Star. Did you see the video of the Healy motor swap out? (20+) Video | Facebook
Even much newer icebreakers that Polar Star has problems:
Icebreakers for the USCG is a public matter, paid for with taxpayer’s money (in the US)
Building vessels and developing technology for the renewable energy sector is largely a matter for private industry, but with a need for government support to get going.
Joining the rest of the world in moving renewable energy development offshore should be a priority for a nation that pride itself of being a “world leader” in everything.
PS> Not only OWF, but also wave, tidal, ocean current and even solar power generated “offshore” are now being developed around the world.
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Do you think the USCG built the WTIV?
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Mawson Station, yep, been there. We did them the favor of discovering an uncharted shoal so they didn’t have to worry about hitting it. But WE DID. Six-foot hole in the hull with four compartments flooded. Charts now show “Staten Island Shoal”. But the fact remains, the government needs to pull their thumb out and get to work.
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It always surprises me that they had a spare propulsion motor for USCGC Healy.
The Russians had a similar propulsion motor failure with their (then) latest and biggest nuclear-powered icebreaker in the same year. They probably pulled the replacement unit from a sister ship under construction…
No. I understand the importance of building the “windmill boat”, I just get aggravated that civilians can get things done seemingly so much “easier, faster” than the government. When thinking about how things got cranked up and working so fast and efficient in WWII, I fear what would happen if a conventional war were to break out and our government worked at the rate it pretends to work out now.