To reach polar outposts in some of the most remote places on Earth, the U.S. Coast Guard’s Polar Star breaks through ice up to 21-feet thick.
But what’s more incredible is how the icebreaker paves its way through treacherous, icy seas. Instead of ramming ice, the Polar Star slides above it, and uses its weight to crush the ice and pass through.
Think of it as a 13,000-ton belly flop.
The Coast Guard’s star icebreaker features a reinforced hull made of nearly two-inch thick steel. And as you can imagine, breaking ice takes energy. Lots of it.
The Polar Star is powered by its own personal jet engine, which produces 75,000 shaft horsepower. For comparison, a comparable fishing vessel runs on 10,000.
As for what she’s up today? Just last month the Polar Star helped tow a stranded Australian fishing vessel out of 20-foot deep, Antarctic ice and snow.