USCGC Spar Serves Great Lakes With Buoy Tending, Icebreaking Missions

The 225-foot Coast Guard cutter USCGC Spar rolled out of its Duluth berth to begin spring icebreaking operations, breaking a path through harbor ice so the freighters that carry iron ore, grain, coal, and limestone can move again through one of the Great Lakes' busiest ports. Maritime watchers in the Twin Ports caught the vessel on webcam when it entered Duluth on March 20, and a Facebook post from the ship's followers confirmed the mission: "USCG buoy tender Spar (2001) left their dock in Duluth this morning to begin Spring icebreaking operations to prepare the harbor for the 2025" shipping season.

The Spar (WLB-206) is a Juniper-class seagoing buoy tender and icebreaker with a reinforced hull capable of punching through about 14 inches of freshwater ice continuously. When conditions demand it, the crew backs the ship and rams to break up to 36 inches of packed ice. The 2,000-long-ton vessel, powered by two Caterpillar 3608 engines producing 3,100 shaft horsepower each, also carries a 40,000-pound crane for repositioning navigation buoys across the Great Lakes. Around 50 Coast Guard officers and enlisted personnel make up the crew.

If Duluth's harbor entrance or navigation channels remain frozen, large freighters cannot safely enter or depart. The Spar's icebreaking runs clear the way before commercial shipping resumes in earnest each spring.

The cutter did not arrive in Duluth until recently in its service life. After being commissioned on August 3, 2001, the ship spent roughly two decades at Kodiak, Alaska, working the Aleutian Islands, which earned it the nickname "The Aleutian Keeper." In 2021, Spar and USCGC Alder (WLB-216) traded home ports. Spar underwent a midlife maintenance overhaul at the Coast Guard shipyard in Baltimore before sailing to Duluth, where it arrived on March 30, 2022.

Its Alaska years were not without distinction. During the summer of 2013, Spar participated in Arctic Shield 2013, successfully deploying its Vessel of Opportunity Skimming System to practice oil spill recovery in Arctic waters and earning the Special Operations Service Ribbon. In 2012, the Sun'aq Tribe of Kodiak adopted Spar as an honorary tribal ship, a recognition described as unique among Coast Guard cutters. In 2024, the vessel responded to the distress call of the lake freighter Michipicoten.

The ship's name itself carries historical weight: USCGC Spar honors the U.S. Coast Guard Women's Reserves, established during World War II. The cutter's keel was laid December 15, 1999, at Marinette Marine Corporation in Wisconsin. Attorney General Janet Reno christened it at its August 12, 2000 launch, with U.S. Senator Herb Kohl and Coast Guard Vice Admiral Timothy Josiah also speaking at the ceremony.

With spring icebreaking now underway, Duluth's commercial shipping lanes are being cleared for another season of Great Lakes commerce.