March 30, 2009 The Floating Hotel

What is 420 feet long, 82 feet high, breaks ice up to 4.5 ft thick at 3 knots, and can travel 300 miles in open seas in 24 hours? It is the USCGC Healy. The Healy is the largest and newest Coast Guard cutter in the fleet. With new technology, the Healy can operate with fewer crewmembers than other similar ships.

A large ship in a larger sea

Some people call the Healy a floating hotel or city as it has to do everything from generating it's own power, making drinking water, disposing of waste... Everything has backups because when you are out a sea and something breaks, you want to be able to finish your mission.

EMCM Curtis Podhora is the person to ask about the how the ship operates. He gives 4-hour tours of the heart of the ship. It is a different world as I entered into the mechanical and electrical part of the ship, the largest part of the ship.

Everything is monitored from this room (Photo by Dr. Trites)

The control room overlooks the engine room. The monitors in the control room constantly check 6000 sensors to insure the safe operations of the ship. Fire prevention and ways to quickly put out fires are important on a ship generating 6600 volts of electricity and carrying 1.25 million gallons of fuel and many gallons of lubricating oils and jet propulsion fuel.

There are 4 engines (Photo by Dr. Trites)

It is big and loud in there

One of 10 units that senses the ship's mechanical units

Many holes to climb through

Steps are called ladders because they are narrow and steep (Photo by Dr. Trites)

Fire prevention is key

Fooseball in the bow?

Curtis holds the line

Lines for all occasions