The Louis-S-St-Laurent: Crew Feedback and Vessel Data

A Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak aircrew medically evacuated a 24-year-old female crew member from the 'Louis S. St. Laurent', which was located 200 miles northeast of Utqiagvik, Alaska, on Oct 6, 2022. Coast Guard 17th District Command Center watchstanders received the medevac request at 6:30 p.m. after the woman had been ill for two days and needed surgery. The MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter aircrew arrived on scene at 2:15 a.m., safely hoisted and transported the patient and medical personnel to Utqiagvik, where a North Slope Search and Rescue team was waiting to take them to Anchorage.

A broken propeller of the "Louis St-Laurent" will have to be fixed in dry dock later this fall as attempts to do it in Arctic waters have failed. The damage has kept the icebreaker in the waters off Cambridge Bay since Sep 19, 2011. Divers were unable to put the propeller back into position in the waters off Cambridge Bay, where the ship has been anchored since the problem was discovered. On Oct. 11 it was announced that attempts to repair it had been unsuccessful. The CGC is looking at making preparations for the ship to transit out of the Arctic and eventually into a dry dock for final repairs. The icebreaker should reach its home port of St. John's with its two functioning propellers by the end of October. The ship is expected to be ready for operations in late December or early January 2012. An investigation to determine why the icebreaker was experiencing abnormal vibrations at the stern, or rear, led to the discovery of the problem on Sept. 19. The ship has three propellers and the faulty one is at the centre. The propeller had backed off on the shaft about six inches. Upon further investigation, it was found out that the propeller nut that holds the propeller on the shaft has loosened off which caused the propeller to back off the shaft. The icebreaker was concluding its seismic work for the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea when the problem was discovered.