Capt. Michele Schallip on June 29 returned for a second tour as commanding officer of the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Healy, one of two active icebreakers homeported in Seattle.
Commissioned in 1999, the Healy is the newest, largest and most technologically advanced icebreaker in the Coast Guard’s fleet.
Adm. Linda Fagan, commandant of the US. Coast Guard presided over the change of command ceremonies in Seattle in which Schallip relieved Capt. Kenneth Boda as commanding officer. Schallip previously served as the ship’s executive officer from 2018 to 2020. Boda served as the Healy’s commanding officer from June 2021 to June 2023.
Twice during Boda’s tenure, the Healy was deployed to the Arctic region, including trips to circumnavigate North America and to transit the geographic North Pole, in support of oceanographic and climate research.
Hundreds of science station operations were completed in support of the Arctic Mobile Observing System and Synoptic Arctic survey, including mapping of the ocean floor, 281 connectivity, temperature and depth casts, and 437 over-the-side science instrument deployments.
Boda said that as a career icebreaker sailor, two years aboard the Healy was a highlight of his Coast Guard career.
“I was very fortunate to sail with such a talented crew to some of the most inaccessible and fascinating places on the planet,” Boda said. “We conducted oceanographic research that advanced scientific understanding of the earth’s climate system, and projected United States sea power to the high Arctic.”