Trump's Arctic Goals Demand Icebreakers, but U.S. Struggles to Build Them
At 13,000 tons, the U.S. Coast Guard's Polar Star is a mammoth vessel made to cut through Arctic ice more than 20 feet thick. But it is the U.S.'s only icebreaker that operates year-round, and it was built nearly half a century ago.
In the intensifying global race to access the Arctic, icebreakers are the essential tool to open trade routes, allow resource extraction and project military power. The U.S. and its allies have fallen far behind Russia, and China is rapidly gaining ground with the help of the world's largest shipbuilding industry.
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