The Coast Guard's only operating heavy icebreaker is so old the agency has had a hard time securing parts to keep it going. "I was actually just talking to the skipper of the Polar Star this week and believe it or not they have to buy some of the fuses for their main generators and switchboards on E-Bay" because they're no longer manufactured, Gary Rasicot, the Coast Guard's director of marine transportation systems, told a House committee in late July. What's more, they've taken parts off its sistership the Polar Sea "to make Polar Star work," he said. The 399'x83' Polar Sea was put on inactive status in October 2011 after engine failure in 2010. Both vessels were built in the mid-1970s.
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