A county in Alaska (known here as a burrough) named the Mat-Su had a ferryboat built that is ice-breaking capable a little and a landing craft named the Susitna for 80 million dollars. It is likely that it's going to be for sale since the Mat-Su people haven't a way to use it to bring people to their side of Cook Inlet from Anchorage.
The boat cost 80 million dollars and was completed in 2010. The insurance on the baot cost something like 3/4 million annually, so the Wasilla Mat-Su people are planning to try to get rid of one of the 'ten most significant boats launched in 2010'. Maybe it could become a toy for the Coast Guard at Nome or be used to cross the Bering Strait seasonally.
This topic incidentally reminds me of the lack of ice breakers that the Coast Guard has-just one ancient and venerable ship. With declining sea ice maybe a new kind of ice breaking tool that could go in front of an ice capable ship to clear the way could be built-something like a barge with sonic, heat and vibrating technology that could be pushed by a tug/push boat or some more conventional vessel.
Instead of making a complete ship it might be cheaper to develop a heavy-ice breaking technology tool to lead the way for boat-perhaps remotely piloted by the following ship crew.
The U.S. Navy helped design and pay for the boat as a prototype for the E-Craft, a new kind of landing vessel. It was built in Ketchikan Alaska, near where the famous 'bridge to nowhere' was to be constructed.
image credit- U.S. Navy
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