Coast Guard Icebreaker ‘Storis’ To Achieve Initial Operating Readiness by August 2025

The U.S. Coast Guard’s new icebreaker Storis appears on track for its first Arctic patrol during the summer of 2025. The vessel is currently undergoing conversion and retrofitting at a Florida shipyard turning the icebreaking anchor handling tug supply vessel (AHTS) Aiviq into the Coast Guard icebreaker Storis.  “[The vessel] should achieve its initial operating capability operating up in the Arctic August of this year,” Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan stated during a joint session of the state’s legislature. The vessel will ultimately be homeported in Juneau. “After years of work the Coast Guard has committed to us that they will home port this icebreaker where the ice is. Imagine that. This is great for Arctic security and great for America,” he continued.  The Coast Guard acquired the 2012 commercial icebreaker offshore tug Aiviq for $100m in November 2024, with another $25m slated for conversion work. Upon commissioning the vessel will be renamed Storis, as first reported by gCaptain.  “Storis” is Scandinavian for “great ice”. The Storis will carry on the tradition of the former USCG icebreaker of the same name, which at the time of its decommissioning in 2012 was the oldest vessel in the Coast Guard fleet having served nearly 65 years.  The Aiviq remains at dry dock #4 of Tampa Ship LLC, part of Chouest, where it has been undergoing initial retrofit since November 2024. The complete buildout and conversion of the vessel will take an additional year, according to Sullivan. The USCG previously stated that selection of the crew of 60 will begin in Summer 2026. It is unclear how the vessel will be staffed for the 2025 patrol.  According to the Juneau Empire the vessel is expected to conduct its first Arctic patrol for District 17 in the waters around Alaska following a commissioning ceremony in Juneau.  Coast Guard leadership had previously provided an unclear timeline about the vessel’s service entry. During a recent Congressional hearing VADM Thomas Allan, Deputy Commandant for Mission Support, referenced both the fiscal and calendar year when discussing the vessel’s potential readiness dates. It may be several more years before Storis will be permanently homeported in Juneau as shoreside infrastructure, including maintenance facilities, as well as crew and family housing, have to be constructed. In total the Coast Guard expects around 190 personnel to be based out of Alaska’s capital.