SYDNEY, Australia — The US Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star (WAGB 10) and crew departed Sydney, on Friday, to begin their journey across the Southern Ocean en route to Antarctica in support of Operation Deep Freeze 2025.
While in Sydney, the crew hosted tours aboard the Polar Star for Consul General Christine Elder and guests from the US Embassy.
On December 21, the Polar Star moored at HMAS Kuttabul alongside several Royal Australian Navy ships close to the center of Sydney during a logistics stop for fuel and supplies.
Leading up to and during the transit, the crew received training and prepared to support the vital mission despite the austere environment. Operation Deep Freeze is one of the more challenging US military peacetime missions due to the harsh environment in which it is conducted. Antarctica is the coldest, windiest, most inhospitable continent on the planet, and each trip requires careful planning and coordination.
“The success of Operation Deep Freeze relies on strong collaboration with our international partners, I am deeply grateful for their continued, and relentless support of Polar Star’s role in that mission,” said Capt. Jeff Rasnake, Polar Star’s commanding officer. “The future of scientific excellence in Antarctica is safeguarded by our joint commitment to cooperative research and protecting the Antarctic environment.”
Operation Deep Freeze is a joint military service mission to resupply the United States Antarctic stations of the National Science Foundation, who is the lead agency for the United States Antarctic program (USAP). This year marks Polar Star’s 28th voyage to Antarctica. Every year, a joint and total force team work together to complete a successful Operation Deep Freeze season. Military members from the US Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, and Navy work together through Joint Task Force-Support Forces Antarctica to continue the tradition of providing US military support. Operation Deep Freeze through the US Antarctic Program works closely with other nation’s Antarctic programs to ensure the continued use of the continent for the advancement of science.
The Polar Star provides heavy icebreaking capabilities to facilitate sealift, seaport access, bulk fuel supply, and cargo handling for two of US’s three research stations in Antarctica with McMurdo Station being the largest. The cutter’s icebreaking capabilities enable the safe delivery of critical supplies to sustain USAP’s year-round operations and support international partnership in the harsh Antarctic environment. It’s vitally important that the US maintains a maritime domain presence in Antarctica to protect international access to the region in line with the Antarctic Treaty that is celebrating its 65th anniversary this year.
“Polar Star is unique in its ability to operate in the dynamic polar regions and we are looking forward to joining our service partners operating there,” said Lt. Cmdr. Rachel Rand, Polar Star’s operations officer. “Our mission is to ensure the safe delivery of cargo to allow the United States Antarctic Program to continue to be successful. We appreciate the dedicated coordination and training across the joint and total force team that allows us to complete the complex resupply.”
When the Polar Star deploys in support of Operation Deep Freeze, they routinely spend the holiday season away from home. The Polar Star departed its Seattle homeport November 22 and has traveled approximately 7,000 miles with stops in Honolulu and Sydney. The crew celebrated Thanksgiving while underway and then moored alongside the US Navy fleet at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Honolulu.
During the transit across the Pacific, the crew sailed through the position 0 degrees latitude and 180 degrees longitude, also known as “The X” marking the intersection of the equator and international date line. Crossing this exact position is a unique and rare opportunity among mariners.
Commissioned in 1976, the Polar Star is a 399-foot heavy polar icebreaker weighing 13,500 tons, 84-feet wide, with a 34-foot draft and capable of providing year-round access to both polar regions. The six diesel and three gas turbine engines produce up to 75,000 horsepower.
