The crew of the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Healy has returned to their Seattle homeport after a 22,000-mile, 133-day deployment circumnavigating North America, during which they mapped over 20,000-square kilometers of seafloor, including 12,000 square kilometers of previously unmapped regions.
The Healy also provided U.S. surface presence in the Arctic, supported high-latitude oceanographic research missions, participating in an international search-and-rescue exercise and exercises with surface vessels from the U.S., Canadian and Mexican navies.
The crew also hosted members of the international science community and institutions from the U.S., Canada, Norway and Denmark that were conducting oceanographic research throughout the Arctic, including the Northwest passage and within Baffin Bay to monitor environmental change.
The Healy traveled north of Canada via the Northwest Passage, to rendezvous with the Canadian Coast Guard and Canadian Rangers for a search-and-rescue exercise. Then the Healy traveled south of Mexico via the Panama Canal on their way home, The deployment supported the Coast Guard’s Arctic Strategy while providing critical training for future icebreaker sailors.
Healy’s commanding officer, Capt. Kenneth Boda, said his crew demonstrated tremendous dedication to duty while carrying out the Coast Guard’s Arctic mission, operating in some of the harshest regions of the world.
While transiting south on the East Coast of the U.S. and north up the West Coast of Mexico, the Healy engaged in multiple outreach events, including passing exercises, professional exchanges and embarking distinguished visitors to bolster relations with other nations.
“They assisted teams of scientists in gathering invaluable data and information throughout the deployment,” Boda said. “This research will be shared with laboratories, universities and institutions around the world to support research focused on the changing Arctic environment.”