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→Project timeline: The cited source has been modified to show that the testimony is no longer upcoming but was presented on 7 May 2024. Change the article accordingly. |
→Project timeline: Additional information about the status of the PSC design from testimony to the Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security. |
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In August 2023, Bollinger Shipyards began steel cutting for eight "prototype modules" for the first Polar Security Cutter.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.usni.org/2023/08/09/bollinger-cuts-first-steel-on-polar-security-cutter-polar-sentinel|title=Bollinger Cuts First Steel on Polar Security Cutter|date=9 August 2023|accessdate=10 August 2023|publisher=USNI News}}</ref>
On 7 May 2024, the [[Congressional Budget Office]]'s testimony before the Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security of the Committee on Homeland Security estimated that the total cost of three vessels would be $5.1 billion, about 60% more than the Coast Guard's estimate in March 2024, and the delivery of the first vessel would be in 2029.<ref name="cbo_april2024" /> When subcommittee chair [[Carlos A. Giménez]] asked why the Polar Security Cutter design was only 67% complete after five years of work, a Government Accountability Office witness explained that nothing like the Polar Security Cutter has been built in the United States in 50 years; American shipbuilders have no recent experience building large icebreakers. Coast Guard Vice Admiral [[Paul F. Thomas|Paul Thomas]] reminded the subcommittee that Halter Marine chose to base the PSC design upon the proposed ''Polarstern II'' design, rather than upon a Finnish icebreaker suggested by the Coast Guard. Because the ''Polarstern II'' has never been built, its design is necessarily incomplete.<ref>{{cite news |last=Ruskin |first=Liz |date=7 May 2024 |title=The U.S. was supposed to get keys to a new heavy icebreaker this year. Instead, construction is years late as costs soar. |url=https://alaskapublic.org/2024/05/07/the-u-s-was-supposed-to-get-keys-to-a-new-heavy-icebreaker-this-year-instead-construction-is-years-late-as-costs-soar/ |work=[[Alaska Public Media]] |___location=Washington, DC |access-date=8 May 2024}}</ref>
==Design==
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