USCGC Healy
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USCGC Healy (WAGB-20) is the United States' largest and most technologically advanced icebreaker as well as the US Coast Guard's largest vessel. She is classified as a medium icebreaker by the Coast Guard. She is homeported in Seattle, Washington, and was commissioned in 1999. On 6 September 2001 Healy visited the North Pole for the first time. The second visit occurred on 12 September 2005. On 5 September 2015, Healy became the first unaccompanied United States surface vessel to reach the North Pole, and Healy's fourth Pole visit happened on 30 September 2022.
USCGC Healy (WAGB-20) north of Alaska
Image: Crest Healy
Healy's small boat 26321 conducts science operations gathering water samples in the Arctic Ocean during Arctic West Summer 2015.
An aft view of Healy and her A-frame while deployed in the Arctic.
North Pole
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The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole, Terrestrial North Pole or 90th Parallel North, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distinguish from the Magnetic North Pole.
Temporary research station of German-Swiss expedition on the sea ice at the Geographic North Pole. Drillings at the landing site at 90°N showed an average ice thickness of 2.5 metres on April 16, 1990
This pressure ridge at the North Pole is about 1 km long, formed between two ice floes of multi-year ice.
Nansen's ship Fram in the Arctic ice
Peary's sledge party at what they claimed was the North Pole, 1909. From left: Ooqueah, Ootah, Henson, Egingwah, and Seeglo.