USCGC Healy Sidelined by Engine Failure, Arctic Patrol Cancelled

On July 13, USCGC Healy suffered a crankcase explosion in one of its four main engines during sea trials off Port Angeles, Washington. The ship had just completed an $18.3 million overhaul at a Portland shipyard. It did not make it back under its own power. The vessel was towed to Coast Guard Base Seattle. No one was hurt.

The Coast Guard described the event as a "significant engineering casualty" in its press release and said an investigation had to come before any repair timeline. Industry sources described the failure as a crankcase explosion in one of the ship's four Sulzer diesel generator engines.

Healy's September and October 2026 Arctic science patrol is cancelled. That cruise was a biennial mission to service a long-term mooring in Alaska's Beaufort Sea and survey the boundary current system between the Bering Strait and the eastern Canadian Beaufort. Two other cutters, Storis and Munro, are covering Arctic operations in the ship's absence.

Major repairs are confirmed. The Coast Guard has not given a return-to-service date.