Top U.S. Coast Guard officials visited Seward on Monday to tour the future home of two major ships. The expansion of the Coast Guard’s fleet on the eastern Kenai Peninsula will mark a sort-of homecoming for the military branch with a long history in the coastal town.
It’s a sunny day in Seward, where employees hammer and drill at JAG Alaska’s shipyard. The 11-acre facility is the second largest shipyard north of Seattle and takes care of everything from day-to-day ship maintenance, to structural repairs and modifications. And the company is about to add a pretty big customer.
The U.S. Coast Guard is moving to town. Or, rather, is moving back.
“Seward is a place where we get great support from the local community here,” said Admiral Kevin Lunday, the 28th Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard. On Monday, he stood at the bottom of a ramp at the end of Seward’s Nash Road, seagulls cawing and turquoise water lapping.
Seward is the future home port of a new icebreaker – one of Alaska’s first-ever through the new federal Arctic Security Cutter program. The two other new icebreakers will be based in Kodiak. And Seward’s getting a standard fast-response cutter, too. The two ships will be used to patrol and defend Alaska’s coast and respond to maritime emergencies.
Three-and-a-half billion dollars for the Arctic Security Cutter program came from a budget reconciliation bill Congress passed last year. U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski was a critical vote in getting the bill passed, angering many Alaskans because it also cut Medicaid by more than $1 trillion.
Lunday says there’s a few reasons the Coast Guard likes Seward.
“I mean, you're connected by a road just up the road to Anchorage, and the support and services that a major city like Anchorage provides,” he said. “And then you've just got access to the coastal areas along Alaska where we do a lot of our operations.”
Seward’s no stranger to the Coast Guard. The military decommissioned the USCGC Mustang last year, after almost four decades of service in Seward. Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard Phillip Waldron got his first look at Alaska from the USCGC Healy in Seward.
“As large as Alaska is and as much coastline as it has, the naturally deep water ports where it's relatively easy to move cutters in and out of – Seward has that, and so that's one of the most distinct advantages right away,” Waldron said.
The Seward visit also took the group to JAG Alaska’s shipyard, where Douglas Huff says the company is preparing for full-time Coast Guard service. Huff is the president and founder of JAG Alaska. He says the company has a preexisting relationship with the U.S. Coast Guard that he says will serve the new cutters well. The Coast Guard’s Alex Haley is docked at the JAG Shipyard right now.
“We help them get their job done and put an asset back into place in a timely fashion, so they can execute their assignments effectively,” Huff said. “So the Coast Guard are a bunch of great folks, and you know we couldn't pick a better customer.”
There’s still some work that needs to happen in Seward before the cutters arrive. Last month the Coast Guard awarded a $9.8 million contract to a Wasilla company to build six housing units and a maintenance building to support the new ship operations. The Coast Guard estimates around 120 people will relocate to Seward when the ships arrive, including service members and their families.
The first of the three new icebreakers isn’t scheduled to arrive until 2028. On Monday, U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan announced two Seward companies will receive grants through the U.S. Department of Transportation to upgrade Seward’s shipyard. In all, the department’s Maritime Administration awarded $2.3 million through the Small Shipyard grant program, including $1,405,113 to JAG Alaska and $916,223 to Catalyst Marine Engineering to modernize equipment and expand the companies’ capacity to handle vessels.
Monday’s visit ended with a community gathering at Seward’s Branson Beach Pavilion that closed with a round of applause and a “Semper Paratus” – the Coast Guard motto meaning “Always Ready” – from Admiral Lunday.
