The US Coast Guard Cutter Storis (WAGB 21), the nation’s newest commissioned icebreaker and first in over 25 years, completed its 112-day inaugural Arctic patrol and arrived in Seattle on October 3, 2025. After departing Mississippi in June and transiting the Panama Canal, Storis operated in Arctic waters to support Operation Frontier Sentinel, monitoring foreign activity, including Chinese research vessels, and asserting US sovereignty. The patrol marked Storis’ first entry into ice and included helicopter operations, gunnery drills, and community outreach, according to Ocean News & Technology (ON&T). Now in Seattle, the cutter will undergo six weeks of training before eventually relocating to its permanent homeport in Juneau, Alaska. ON&T writes:

The US Coast Guard Cutter Storis (WAGB 21), the service’s newest commissioned icebreaker, arrived in Seattle October 3, 2025, after completing its 112-day inaugural patrol. […]

Storis departed Pascagoula, Mississippi, June 1, transited the Panama Canal and the Pacific Ocean enroute to conduct its first Arctic patrol operating north of the Bering Strait to control, secure, and defend the northern US border and maritime approaches. […]

The Arctic is a zone of strategic global competition. Five China-affiliated research vessels operated in the Arctic region over the summer and Storis was one of several Coast Guard assets deployed to the US Arctic to control, secure, and defend US territory and sovereign interests. The Coast Guard is the only US surface presence in the Arctic and works in conjunction with US Northern Command and Alaskan Command to constantly monitor foreign vessels operating in and near US waters in support of US homeland defense and security operations.

Prior to its inaugural patrol, the Coast Guard commissioned Storis in Juneau, Alaska, Aug. 10, and the cutter is the Coast Guard’s first polar icebreaker acquired in over 25 years.  […]

As a medium polar icebreaker, Storis expands the US operational forces available to secure maritime dominance in the Arctic and will support Coast Guard missions while the agency pursues acquisition of additional medium and heavy polar icebreakers. […]

Storis is temporarily berthed in Seattle, alongside the service’s other polar icebreakers, until necessary infrastructure improvements are completed in Juneau where the cutter will be permanently homeported.

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