The 50-Year-Old Ship That Forced Trump to Buy His Icebreakers From Canada

By The Decision Room

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One. That's how many operational heavy icebreakers the United States has left. The Polar Star — commissioned January 17, 1976 — just turned 50 years old, decades past her intended service life. Her sister ship broke down in 2010 and is now stripped for spare parts to keep her alive. The Seattle shipyard that built them closed long ago. Meanwhile, Russia has more than 40 icebreakers — some nuclear-powered — and dozens of Arctic military bases. Trump wants the Arctic. Greenland. The "51st state." But the Arctic doesn't open for speeches — it opens for ships that can break ice. And America forgot how to build them: the new domestic Polar Security Cutter, awarded in 2019 and due in 2024, is now delayed to 2030 at the earliest, with a $951.6 MILLION cost overrun on the first ship alone. So in 2026, Trump's own Coast Guard signed a $3.5 BILLION contract for five new Arctic Security Cutters — with Davie Defense, the American arm of the shipbuilder headquartered in QUEBEC, CANADA. Two ships

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