USCGC Healy Working at Close Quarters with CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent

It is very unusual for large (400 ft) vessels to be so close together during normal science operations.  In this case, the skilled ship handling of the Captain from USCGC Healy enabled Healy to back within ~75 ft of Louis to clear ice around the bow of Louis, thereby releasing pressure and allowing her to move again. Observers from Louis and Healy are watching and taking pictures of this unusual move, and one of the mates from Louis (orange survival suit) is monitoring the distance between vessels.  It is snowing hard.

[This set of photos provides selected image of two icebreakers working together in the Arctic Ocean.  All images were taken from aboard the Canadian Coast Guard Ship (CCGS) Louis S. St-Laurent (Louis), from which science crew from the Geological Survey of Canada, Canadian Hydrographic Servie, and a U.S. liaison from USGS) were responsible for the multichannel seismic operations.  United States Coast Guard Cutter (USCGC) Healy (Healy) is the ship pictured in many of the photos and collected multibeam echosounder data while also breaking ice for Louis].