WASHINGTON: After a decade of dithering, the White House and Congress have finally come close to agreeing that America must build a new icebreaker. One congressional subcommittee, the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee, has actually come up with the $1 billion needed to build it in less than a decade. But the money wasn’t put in the Coast Guard’s budget. The defense subcommittee put the money in the Navy’s budget. But the Navy won’t operate the ship. So why should the Navy get the money? Is that a good idea? It has a precedent. The most modern icebreaker in our fleet, the Healy, was built by NavSea, although some of those involved recall that the Navy didn’t much like it and only kept going under orders from the late Sen. Ted Stevens, towering master of all things to do with defense appropriations. “The Navy tried to say, OK, we’re done,” when the program first faced difficulties,” retired Coast Guard Rear Adm. Jeff Garrett tells me. “Ted Stevens said, No — you’re not done. And they built it.” A Coast Guard captain was program manager and it was run by a mixed staff of Navy and Coasties. Garrett, one of the country’s most experienced Arctic operators and a Coastie who understands budgeting and acquisition, just wants the icebreaker built. The Coast Guard could build it, bolstered by their experience over the last few years building $500 million National Security Cutters, Garrett argues. Or the Navy can do it. “Money is money. Congress can put the money wherever it wants,” he notes. Should the $1 billion actually be appropriated, it will actually push the White House faster than it currently plans to move. The 2017 budget asks for a paltry $150 million to begin icebreaker acquisition. Garrett says it loks as if the Office of Managment and Budget intends to do “incremental funding” and fund the icebreaker as the Navy does aircraft carriers over years as the Navy does with aircraft carriers. “If you got the whole billion dollars up front that’s even better because you don’t have to sweat it out up front and get approval for smaller amounts each year,” Garrett notes. Two experts at the Heritage Foundation don’t want the Pentagon to build the icebreakers, though Justin Johnson, their defense budget expert, and Brian Slattery support building the new ship. Slattery, who follows the Coast Guard for Heritage, thinks “the icebreaker should be appropriated through the Coast Guard acquisition, construction, and improvements (AC&I) budget, because we need to get over the imaginary ceilings on these acquisition accounts.” Although Coast Guard Commandants have said for years that they need at least $1.5 billion annually to rebuild the service’s air and sea fleets, they usually get roughly $1 billion and there’s been deep reluctance both within the Obama Administration and on the Capitol Hill to break that habit. “The administration has appeared incapable for years of requesting the $1.5 billion for AC&I that the Coast Guard has said is a minimum requirement for modernization funding. While Congress has done a pretty good job at adding funding where necessary for the Coast Guard the past few years, the White House still sets the tone for these priorities, and the Coast Guard (in the context of the overall DHS budget) has been pushed toward the bottom of the list for years,” Slattery says in an email. What’s wrong with the Navy building the icebreakers? The Navy doesn’t fully fund its Shipbuilding and Conversion accounts (known as SCN), leaving the US with a shrinking fleet. “I worry that this $1 billion addition for the Coast Guard will similarly make the SCN account look robust but without actually making progress toward the Navy’s battle force fleet requirements,” Slattery argues. But Garrett doesn’t care where the money goes as long as the ships gets built. “The whole issue with this icebreaker has been debated for decades,” says one of the chief co-authors of two National Research Council studies, “Polar Icebreakers in a Changing World ” in 2007 and “National Security Implications of Climate Change for U.S. Naval Forces” in 2011. “The detailed procedural stuff. Well, that’s just procedural stuff. It can be executed by DoD or by DHS.” Garrett argues “the real question has been the country’s commitment.” The SAC-D vote would seem to indicate there’s hope. But… “Will I bet all my retirement pay all this money will end up untouched at the end of the process, and be there on October 1? No, but it’s a hopeful sign,” says the former commander of the 420-foot Healy. As Chinese ships sail between the islands of the Bering Sea, and Russia stakes claims to the Arctic, we rely on the Healy and its sister ship the Polar Star, a 399-foot heavy icebreaker commissioned in 1976, Garrett and virtually every American who’s sailed the Arctic, say they aren’t enough.

Here at LSOZI, we are going to take off every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1859-1946 time period (sometimes reaching past that as with today’s post) and will profile a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all of their own, which sometimes takes them…

What you need • iPhone • Central Coast, NSW Sunshine • Palmy vibes 🌴 • Super Sun SPF50

Coasties

Commander Jeanine McIntosh-Menze -the first black female in the U.S. Coast Guard to earn the Coast Guard Aviation designation -first Black female aviator in the Coast Guard (2005) -flew rescue missions for the U.S. Coast Guard after Hurricane Katrina (2005) -has gone on to inspire and mentor other black women to enter the field. #womenshistory #History MilitaryWomen #MilitaryWoman #WomenInUniform #militaryhistory #coastguard #coasties #Coastie CoastGuardGirl

The World War II Home Front Museum brings to life Coastal Georgia’s extraordinary contributions during World War II and recounts how this quiet coastal region was transformed when the United States went to war. The Home Front Museum tells the story of an important chapter in Georgia’s history when residents of small communities like Brunswick and St. Simons, in Glynn County, worked together and sacrificed for the greater good. More importantly, it tells the story of America – of the brave men and women on the home front who supported those on the battlefields in the fight for freedom and democracy. Developed by Coastal Georgia Historical Society and designed by Gallagher & Associates, lead exhibit designer at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans, the Home Front Museum details this region’s multifaceted role during the war. Galleries of immersive exhibits recreate iconic home front scenes such as an A & P Food storefront and a military recruitment office. Interactive experiences allow visitors to try their hand at plane spotting, directing fighter pilot squadrons using radar technology, and building and joining the crew of a Liberty ship. The Coastal Georgia home front story reflects the experience of many Americans during World War II - civil defense activities such as blackouts, food rationing and buying war bonds, and sending sons and daughters off to join the nation’s military. In other ways, Glynn County was unique. It was the location of three critical wartime facilities: an airship base, a radar training school, and a Liberty shipyard. The World War II Home Front Museum is located in the Historic Coast Guard Station on St. Simons Island, a beloved community icon listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This historic building will resonate with local residents who remember the Coasties who served from 1936 – 1995, and also with visitors who will learn about the Coast Guard’s service in World War II after the branch became an active part of the U.S. War Department in 1941. The museum is closed Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day. Discover Georgia's legacy of inspiring wartime stories at the sites that make up the World War II Heritage Trail

UPDATED: WITH WHITE HOUSE STATEMENT ON BUYING MORE ICE BREAKERS WASHINGTON: After seven years of thinking about the possibilities, the Obama administration now says it wants to build at least one serious icebreaker in the face of increasing competition for the oil, gas, fish and shipping routes the Arctic can offer. Right now, we’ve got two truly operational ice breakers: the Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star, a 399-foot heavy icebreaker commissioned in 1976, and the Healy, a 420-foot medium icebreaker commissioned in 2000. But it will take the Coast Guard about a decade to build an ice breaker using the standard acquisition approach, says one of America’s most experienced Arctic sailors, retired Rear Adm. Jeffrey Garrett. If we’re serious about getting something into the water, Garrett says we could do it in about four years, but that would mean greatly foreshortening a lot of the traditional acquisition approach used to build Coast Guard ships. President Obama. using his visit to the Arctic as backdrop, issued a statement Thursday saying his “administration will propose to accelerate acquisition of a replacement heavy icebreaker to 2020 from 2022, begin planning for construction of additional icebreakers, and call on Congress to work with the Administration to provide sufficient resources to fund these critical investments.” But proposing to accelerate something that isn’t being built yet is hard, especially when you’ve really only got one more budget to propose (come February) and won’t be around to “start” it. As the administration knows all too well, President Obama will peacefully hand the reins of power to his successor in January 2017. And there will be several congressional elections between now and 2020. Then there’s an enormous budget problem: The Coast Guard has to have all of that $1 billion or so in its budget the year it starts work on the ship. That sum is equivalent to the entire Coast Guard acquisition budget. “It comes for the Coast Guard right at the time when the service is trying to recapitalize all its other assets,” said Garrett, such as national security and offshore patrol cutters. The Office of Management and Budget has made clear in the past that the Coasties would not get an exemption from this requirement. Perhaps with President Obama’s personal interest in the issue, this will change, but we have no indicators of that yet. So America could get a third ice breaker into the ice by 2026 or so, since it’s unlikely money will be added to the 2016 Coast Guard budget currently being debated. The US Navy does have an impressive and unmatched presence in Arctic waters thank to our nuclear missile submarines (boomers) and our attack subs, said Garrett and his former colleague, Ed Gilbert, also a retired Coast Guard rear admiral. The US Air Force can fly all over the place (though it can’t land in many of them). But we currently lack presence in much of the Arctic for the simple reason that our two fully functioning ice breakers can only be on so many places at any one time. “Yes, we’ve got lots of Air Force planes that can go over it and we’ve got subs that can sneak around under, but if you want to be there on the surface then you’ve got have an ice breaker,” Garrett argues. He points to Thule Air Base, 750 miles north of the Arctic Circle, which needs a major resupply each year. Right now, Canada provides icebreaker support for this supply run, in return for our help in the western Arctic, Garrett notes. But really, why should the American taxpayer care about ice breakers? I’m tempted to say there’s gold in them thar hills, but it’s really more about safeguarding what the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea grants to us and to the other members of the Arctic Council, the eight nations that border the Arctic and try to preserve and manage it. It’s also about ensuring freedom of the seas and ensuring other nations know we can exercise our rights there. Interest in the Arctic is fast growing. China sent five PLAN ships to the Bering Sea for the first time, Pentagon officials confirm. What’s more, the People’s Republic of China is building a new ice breaker, configured for research, Garrett notes, in addition to “a very capable vessel” they’ve got now. Note that China doesn’t exactly sit next door to the Arctic. Chinese officials have argued that, like Antartica, the Arctic belongs to all mankind. To make its point China has courted Iceland for some time. In 2012, then Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao visited the country with a large delegation. So will we build an ice breaker any time soon? There’s a suggestion from Rep. Duncan Hunter on the House Armed Services seapower and projection forces subcommittee that we lease an ice breaker. It’s been considered before, when David Stockman was head of the White House’s Office of Managment and Budget. Neither Gilbert nor Garrett think that will fly. “This whole leasing thing just doesn’t make any sense,” Garrett says. “If it’s such a great idea, why doesn’t the Navy lease aircraft carriers? It’s because you’re going to pay a lot more in the long run.” “I guess the good news is for someone who’s been involved with this operationally and at the management level for a good chunk of my career, it’s kind of nice to see it discussed, even if it’s in sound bite fashion,” Garrett said. “The Arctic issues have been building for more than a decade now. It’s great to go to Arctic Council meetings and turn out strategy papers. That’s the sort of stuff the Beltway is good at. But the important part is presence.”