NoCGV Svalbard

NoCGV Svalbard (W303) is a Norwegian Coast Guard icebreaker and offshore patrol vessel constructed by Langsten at Tangen Verft shipyard in Kragerø and launched on 17 February 2001.

She was named 15 December 2001 in Tomrefjord with Minister of Defence Kristin Krohn Devold as godmother, and delivered to the Coast Guard on 18 January 2002.

[3] In October 2020, Svalbard was deployed to the Bering Sea to retrieve scientific instruments belonging to the Coordinated Arctic Acoustic Thermometry Experiment (CAATEX) from the seabed, a task previously assigned to the United States Coast Guard icebreaker USCGC Healy that had been sidelined earlier that year following an onboard fire.

The vessel sailed to the western hemisphere along a high-latitude route north of Svalbard and Franz Josef Land, and outside of Russian territorial waters.

Some of the modifications include: increasing the ships' ice breaking capabilities, adding a larger and fully enclosed forecastle/cable deck for greater arctic protection, addition of a multipurpose operational space, updated command and control systems, an updated sensor suite, and an extended hangar for the larger Sikorsky CH-148 Cyclone helicopter.