The U.S. Coast Guard officially commissioned the cutter Storis, the first polar icebreaker acquired by the United States in over 25 years, in Juneau, Alaska. The commissioning of the Storis and the addition of Juneau as a Coast Guard homeport mark significant steps in a U.S. push to revitalize the Coast Guard fleet amid growing Chinese and Russian activity in Arctic waters.
The Storis, formerly the icebreaking tug supply vessel Aiviq, was purchased in December 2024 and underwent modifications and upgrades to bolster its defense and communications capabilities. At 110 meters long, the Storis is about two-thirds the size of the Coast Guard’s medium icebreaker Healy. A Polar Class 3-equivalent vessel, the Storis can break through 1 meter of ice continuously at 5 knots. It was initially built for Shell’s Arctic drilling operations in 2012.
“Storis is a major win for the American people,” said Adm. Kevin Lunday, acting commandant of the Coast Guard. The vessel “immediately strengthens our ability to control, secure and defend the U.S. border around Alaska and maritime approaches in the Arctic. Storis is the first step of a historic investment in the Coast Guard to add critical capacity to our polar icebreaker fleet to protect U.S. sovereignty and counter malign influence throughout the Arctic.”
The Coast Guard is the nation’s only surface presence in the Arctic, which has become a zone of strategic interest as polar ice melts, opening access to new shipping routes and valuable natural resources. The August 10 commissioning of the Storis continues the Coast Guard’s modernization through Force Design 2028, an initiative introduced by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to transform the Coast Guard into a more agile and responsive fighting force. U.S. President Donald Trump signed a bill on July 4 that provides nearly $25 billion in Coast Guard funding for 17 new icebreakers, 21 new cutters, over 40 helicopters and six C-130J aircraft, in addition to upgrades of shore infrastructure and maritime surveillance systems.
The timing of the Storis commissioning is particularly significant because the Coast Guard has been monitoring five Chinese research vessels operating in or near U.S. Arctic waters. The vessels are “consistent with a three-year trend of increased activity from Chinese research vessels operating in the U.S. Arctic,” the Coast Guard said in a news release August 8. “Last year, three Chinese research vessels conducted research operations north of the Bering Strait.”
“Storis adds vital capability to the U.S. polarized fleet at a critical time when our adversaries are expanding their activities in and near U.S. waters, and the challenges and threats we face as a nation are growing more complex every day,” Lunday said at the commissioning ceremony, according to the Juneau Independent, an online newspaper. “When we see the adversaries, potential adversaries, that are moving to build their icebreakers, we’ve got to move faster as the United States, and we’re going to do that.”
After the ceremony, the Storis’ hybrid crew of military and civilian mariners went on patrol in the Coast Guard Arctic District area of operations. The vessel is being based in Seattle alongside the two other Coast Guard polar icebreakers until infrastructure improvements in Juneau are finished.
The vessel’s original name, Aiviq, means “walrus” in the Inupiak language. Storis is a Scandinavian word meaning “great ice.”
This is the second vessel in Coast Guard history to bear the name Storis. The original “Galloping Ghost of the Alaskan Coast” served 64 years of icebreaking operations in the Arctic and was decommissioned in February 2007. With more than 152,800 kilometers of shoreline, 40,200 kilometers of navigable rivers and 11.65 million square kilometers of U.S. exclusive economic zone, the U.S. Coast Guard defends the nation, guards the maritime transportation system, regulates and protects waterways and ports, executes drug interdiction, and secures the maritime border.
In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee on February 13, 2025, Gen. Gregory M. Guillot, commander of U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) and the North American Aerospace Defense Command, said: “As competition in the region increases, safeguarding Arctic access and freedom of maneuver will depend on Joint Force Arctic operational capabilities and build on the already strong ties between Arctic partners. USNORTHCOM places enormous value on the ability to conduct operations and exercises in the High North and to execute assigned missions in coordination with fellow combatant commands.”