U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star successfully completed its breakout of McMurdo Science Station in Antarctica in support of Operation Deep Freeze Wednesday. The cutter assisted by breaking a navigable shipping lane through 12 miles of ice in McMurdo Sound, encountering ice up to 10 feet in thickness. The shipping channel through the ice created by Polar Star was used by the tanker ship Maersk Peary to deliver approximately three and a half million U.S. gallons of fuel to McMurdo residents, allowing the station to remain manned and ready during the freezing winter months.