For the first time ever, China sent three icebreakers to the Arctic, ship-tracking data showed, while a United States vessel of the same type aborted its mission in the region after an onboard fire.
China has called itself a "near-Arctic state" and an important stakeholder in Arctic affairs—even though the East Asian country's territory is 900 miles away from the Arctic Circle. It has also expanded cooperation there with its quasi-ally Russia, causing concerns in other Arctic states.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Defense revealed an updated Arctic strategy last month amid "growing cooperation" between Beijing and Moscow. The document called for increased military presence, intelligence capabilities, and cooperation between Washington and its Western allies.
The Xue Long 2, one of the Chinese icebreakers in service, visited Murmansk in the far northwestern part of Russia on Wednesday, following a high-latitude transit across the freezing Arctic Ocean. This is according to open-source ship tracking data based on its automatic identification system (AIS).
This icebreaker, delivered in 2019 and with a displacement of about 14,000 tons, is said to be the first icebreaking vessel capable of breaking polar ice with both its bow and stern in the world.
The Xue Long 2 departed from Qingdao, a city in the eastern China province of Shandong, for the country's 14th Arctic expedition on July 5. It was shadowed by HMCS Regina, a Canadian navy frigate armed with missiles, from July 13 to 17 during a transit in the Bering Strait near Alaska.
It was not immediately clear why the Chinese icebreaker visited Murmansk during its expedition in the Arctic. AIS data showed the ship was still mooring pierside at the Russian port as of Thursday. Newsweek has contacted the foreign ministries in Beijing and Moscow for comment by email.
Another Chinese icebreaker, the 4,600-ton Ji Di, which means "Polar" in literal translation, left Qingdao on August 6, following a public access with Xue Long 2 there from July 3 to 4. It is the country's next-generation icebreaking ship and was delivered in June, according to Chinese media.
The Ji Di was underway in the Arctic waters north of the Chukchi Sea as of Wednesday, AIS data showed. The sea lies off the northwestern coast of Alaska and borders Russia's Chukchi Peninsula, the easternmost peninsula of Asia, to the south. It is navigable only between July and October.
A third Chinese icebreaker, Zhong Shan Da Xue Ji Di, which means "Sun Yat-sen University Polar" in literal translation, left Guangzhou in southern China province of Guangdong on July 27. The 5,852-ton vessel belongs to the university after it was donated by private Chinese entrepreneurs.
This icebreaking ship, which is the first vessel of the same type owned by a university in China, was underway in the Chukchi Sea as of Wednesday, according to AIS data. Newsweek's map shows the tracks of the Xue Long 2, Ji Di, and Zhong Shan Da Xue Ji Di in red, pink, and orange, respectively.
While China has sent a fleet of icebreakers to the Arctic, USCGC Healy, a U.S. Coast Guard ship capable of breaking ice, had to cut short its trip in the Arctic due to a fire. The incident occurred on July 25 while the vessel was underway near Canada's Banks Island of the Arctic Archipelago.
The U.S. Coast Guard said the fire, which was promptly extinguished and did not cause personnel casualties, impacted one of the ship's two main propulsion motors. The Healy returned to Seattle in the state of Washington on August 16 to ensure the ship was fully operational before returning to the Arctic.
The Healy, which was commissioned in 2000, is the largest and most advanced icebreaker in the U.S., with a displacement of 16,257 tons. During a two-month Arctic patrol that commenced in June, it conducted scientific investigations and observations in the Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort seas.
USCGC Polar Star, the only other U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker in service, returned to Seattle on Sunday after the conclusion of its fourth phase of a service life extension project in a dry dock in Vallejo, California. This phase began on April 1 following a 138-day deployment to Antarctica.
The goal of this project is to recapitalize the ship's systems like propulsion, communication, and machinery control, as well as conduct maintenance to extend its service life. The 13,500-ton ship was commissioned in 1976 and remains the world's most powerful non-nuclear icebreaker.
The Polar Star has a sister ship, USCGC Polar Sea, but it is in inactive commission in Seattle. The ship will be moved to a dry dock in Vallejo in preparation for storage in the Suisun Naval Reserve Fleet in California. On Tuesday, its former crew members attended a farewell gathering in Seattle.
The Polar Sea has been sidelined since 2010 due to an engine casualty. The Coast Guard later determined that it would be costly to overhaul it to return to service. The ship became a "parts donor" to keep the Polar Star operational until the next generation of icebreakers put into service.
Both the Polar Star and the Healy are approaching the end of their usable lives, and the Coast Guard has planned to acquire three next-generation icebreakers. The Polar Security Cutter will protect the U.S. vital national interests and maintain defense readiness in the Arctic and Antarctic regions.
The Congressional Budget Office on August 21 released a report on the Polar Security Cutter's cost, which estimated that the program would cost $5.1 billion—about 60 percent more than the service's estimate. The operating cost of these three ships would be $12.4 billion through 2063.
