Operation Breakthrough was a US-Soviet effort to free three gray whales from pack ice in the Beaufort Sea near Point Barrow in the U.S. state of Alaska in 1988.

On October 7, 1988, Inupiaq hunter Roy Ahmaogak discovered three gray whales trapped in pack ice in the Beaufort Sea near Point Barrow in the U.S. state of Alaska.

[2] Word spread through the Inupiat community about the whales, and biologists from North Slope Borough, Alaska, visited the site and realized the danger.

On October 28,[2] the Soviet Admiral Makarov broke apart a ridge of Arctic ice that was 400 yards (370 m) wide and 30 feet (9.1 m) high.

However, the remaining two whales were reportedly in very poor health at the time of the rescue and because radio tags were never attached, it is unknown if the animals survived.