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Largest Ship in Coast Guard Fleet Docks in San Diego


The Coast Guard Cutter Healy docked in San Diego on Saturday after a six-month maintenance period to pick up scientific equipment for its next mission to the Arctic.

The ship is one of two U.S. military vessels capable of operating in Arctic waters.

“One of the reasons we pulled into San Diego is one of our partners is here — one of our longstanding partners — the Scripps Institute of Oceanography.” Healy’s commanding officer Capt. Greg Tlapa said. “The Scripps Institute typically deploys with Healey … and they take care of maintenance of a lot of our science sensors. So being down here and having them aboard is beneficial to us.”

The Healy is scheduled to deploy to the Arctic later this summer to provide access in the Arctic to conduct three major research missions in partnership with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Office of Naval Research. 

They will conduct physical and biological research in the Arctic Ocean.

“We’re going back to re-current places where we collect sampling off the ocean bottom in the water column and sometimes out of the ice to study and examine climate change over time,” Tlapa said.

In addition scientific research, the Healy also provides protection for ships in the Arctic as well as search and rescue missions.

“What Healy brings to the fight, our value to the nation is access to the Polar Regions,” Tlapa said. “Healy is the only US military surface operation presence in the Arctic and we get a big bang for the buck by conducting science while we’re up there.”

At 420-foot long, the Healy is the largest ship in the Coast Guard’s fleet.

Photo Credit: NBC 7
Source: NBC San Diego

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