Ice-breaker for relations
A United States naval ship has docked in Wellington for the first time since the ANZUS breakup over New Zealand’s anti-nuclear legislation in the
mid-1980s.
The U.S. Coast Guard ‘‘Cutter’’ Polar Star arrived early yesterday, making it the first time those on board had been on land in 42 days.
The ship is returning from cutting through 26 kilometres of ice to form a path to McMurdo Sound, cutting ice for 12 hours a day so cargo and fuel ships can reach New Zealand’s Scott Base and the United States-run McMurdo Station.
The annual resupply, also called Operation Deep Freeze, allows for year-round scientific activities in Antarctica and is critical to the operation of Scott Base and McMurdo Station.
In turn, McMurdo Station serves as a logistics hub for various field camps and for Amundsen-Scott South Pole Stations (1300km inland from McMurdo).
Commanding officer Gregory Stanclik said the ship was capable of cutting through ice 2 to 3 metres thick, thanks to its thick, pointed metal hull,
75,000 horse power engines, and two metal ‘‘screws’’ that could grind ice into slush.
‘‘We try and minimise that because it damages the blades, but they are capable of churning the ice like a blender and they’ll spit the ice out the back.’’
Stanclik said the amount of ice to the Antarctic port was nearly identical to last year, and a stark contrast to the 112km the crew cut through three years ago.
Operations officer Karen Kutkieurcz said: ‘‘If we had a Richter scale in here it would go crazy – the ship shakes and shudders because of the force of the ice and the pressure of the ice.’’ Eighty per cent of the supplies that arrive every year at McMurdo and Scott Base arrive thanks to the path cleared by Polar Star.
It often escorts ships that, at their closest, are following 8 to 15 metres