HMS Protector in port in Portsmouth, UK, in June 2013. First built in Norway in 2000, the Protector has served in the Royal Navy since 2011. (Wikimedia Commons/Mike McBey)

Why the UK’s ‘Protector’ Icebreaker Can’t Protect Anyone Now

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HMS Protector, the Royal Navy’s sole icebreaker, suffered a significant mechanical breakdown this week, leaving its future in the service uncertain.

Climate change, also known as global warming, has paradoxically made military icebreakers more important. As water temperatures in the Arctic have risen, the receding northern ice has opened new shipping corridors, resource extraction areas, and strategic competition. To access those regions, icebreakers are needed; these waters aren’t exactly tropical, despite carbon emitters’ best efforts.

The United States Coast Guard doesn’t have enough icebreakers, but the issue is even worse with America’s cousins across the sea. The Royal Navy has only one polar icebreaker, HMS Protector, and it has suffered a significant failure that could leave the UK’s senior service without a vital warship that could be crucial to the defense of the Falkland Islands.

The Protector regularly operates in the South Atlantic, allowing the British........

© The National Interest