The Polar Sea

Today the icebreaker Polar Sea pulled into
the Ice Pier. It's been near town for the
past few days so it wasn't a surprise to
see it. They are supposed to give tours but
I'll be at work during them so it won't happen
for now for me, but that's ok since I've been
on the Polar Star, which is an exact duplicate
of the Polar Sea. These are old boats. They
look bright and clean, but they definitely
have some age on them. Because they are getting
old, many worry that when they break down (which
they do frequently) for good, there won't be
anything to replace them. This causes USAP to
contract out its icebreaking chores to ships
like the Oden. Since it takes several years for
one of these boats to be built, and they haven't
started yet, it puts the program into a potential
bind. But for now, the Polar Sea is here and
it's plugging away at opening up the channel.