Seattle-Based Coast Guard Icebreaker Returns Home After First Mission in Nearly 40 Years to Wintertime Arctic The crew aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star, a 399-foot Heavy Icebreaker pull into Coast Guard Base Seattle, March 11, 2019. (U.S. Coast Guard photo/Amanda Norcross) 21 Feb 2021 The Coast Guard icebreaker Polar Star returned Saturday to home port in Seattle after a northern cruise that marked the first time since 1982 that a U.S. government vessel had ventured into the winter Arctic. The crew encountered dense, shifting sea ice, daylong darkness and wind chills that plunged to 50 degrees below zero. On Dec. 25, the Polar Star reached a latitude of 72 degrees, which was farther north than any U.S. government vessel, other than a submarine, had reached in winter.