USCGC Healy

Open ocean icebreaker and research vessel.

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History

The Healy (WAGB 20) was constructed as a result of an Interagency Polar Icebreaker study. In 1984 approval was given to construct an icebreaker to replace the Wind-class icebreakers then in service. While the Wind-class breakers were decommissioned in 1988, funding for the Healy?s construction was not provided until 1991 and the ship itself was not ordered until 1993. The Healy?s keel was laid at the Avondale Industries shipyard in New Orleans, LA. in September of 1996, launched in November 1997 and later commissioned in 1999.

Description

General characteristics:
The Healy has an overall length 420 feet, a full load draft of 29 feet, and a beam of 82 feet. The full load displacement is 16,700 tons. The Healy is capable of continuous icebreaking operations at 3 knots through ice up to 4.5 feet thick and can back and ram through ice up to 8 feet thick. The standard crew compliment is 66 enlisted and 12 officers and has accommodations for up to 35 scientists. The Healy is equipped with 2 HH-65 dolphin helicopters.

Built with scientific research in mind, the Healy has deck space sufficient to accommodate eight standard 20? ISO vans with service hookups (electrical, HVAC, air, science data network, and uncontaminated seawater) as well as two 40' vans for storage. The Healy is equipped with 5 hydraulic equipment cranes which provide almost 100% coverage to the working areas of the deck. Four separate winches are available (two oceanographic winches capable of handling 10,000 meters of 3/8" wire, 12,000 meters of 0.322" electro-mechanical cable, or 14,000 meters of 1/4" wire and two double drum trawl/core winches, capable of handling 10,000 meters of 3/4" wire, 12,000 meters of 0.680" electro-mechanical cable, or 14,000 meters of 9/16" wire) for deploying instruments or taking samples.

Powerplant:
The Healy is equipped with four Westinghouse/Sulzer 12ZA 40S diesel engines producing 42,400 horsepower linked to four generators that provide electrical power for all of the ship?s systems as well as propulsion. Locomotion is provided by a pair of electric motors turning two fixed pitch screws. The AC motors are fully reversible and generate a total of 30,000 hp.

Electronics:
The Healy is equipped with a variety of conventional and satellite communications as well as equipment oriented for its scientific mission. For bathymetric surveying, the Healy utilizes an Echo Sound Processor and Depth Digitizer, Seabeam Bottom Mapping Sonar, XBT Data Acquisition Unit, Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler, Knudsen 320 B/R Sub Bottom Profiler, and a Bathy 2000 bottom mapping and profiling system.

Armament:
As a dedicated scientific research vessel, the Healy is unarmed.