Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star holds change-of-command ceremony

SEATTLE – The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star (WAGB 10) held a change-of-command ceremony on June 29 at Base Seattle.

Rear Adm. Jeffrey Novak, deputy commander of Coast Guard Pacific Area and commander of Coast Guard District Southwest, presided over the ceremony in which Capt. Justin Vanden Heuvel relieved Capt. Jeffery Rasnake as the Polar Star’s commanding officer.

Rasnake served as Polar Star’s commanding officer from July 2024 to June 2026, overseeing 150 crew members through two deployments to Antarctica in support of Operation Deep Freeze. Operation Deep Freeze provides logistical support for the U.S. Antarctic Program, which is managed by the National Science Foundation. The mission includes strategic and tactical airlift, airdrop, aeromedical evacuation, search and rescue, sealift, seaport access, bulk fuel supply, cargo handling, and other transportation requirements. These efforts enable continuous critical scientific research in one of the most remote regions on Earth.

During Rasnake’s command, Polar Star enabled the resupply of the Antarctic continent via five commercial ships and one New Zealand navy vessel. The crew also completed the first observations of fishing vessels in Antarctica supporting the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources. Rasnake led international exchanges with members of the New Zealand Defence Force and military members from French Polynesia, strengthening partnerships across the Pacific.

"Today, I stand here filled with an immense sense of pride and gratitude for the privilege of having served as your Captain," said Rasnake, "You are without a doubt, the hardest-working, most resilient, innovative, and dedicated crew in the Coast Guard. You all have taken our 50-year-old cutter and not only kept her sailing but have pushed her to excel in the most demanding marine environment on the planet."

Vanden Heuvel most recently served as the Leadership Development Center’s school chief of Command and Operations, where he led curriculum development, evaluation and training for five C-schools. In this role, he prepared more than 2,500 Coast Guard leaders afloat and ashore for the responsibilities of command.

Vanden Heuvel has been a permanent cutterman since 2002 and has served aboard 11 cutters, commanding five. He served aboard Coast Guard Cutter Hamilton (WHEC 715) in San Pedro, California; Coast Guard Cutter Point Hobart (WPB 82377) in Oceanside, California; Coast Guard Cutter Hawksbill (WPB 87312) in Monterey, California; Coast Guard Cutter Haddock (WPB 87347) in San Diego; Coast Guard Cutter Aspen (WLB 208) in San Francisco; and Coast Guard Cutter Oak (WLB 211) in Charleston, South Carolina. He commanded Coast Guard Cutter Line (WYTL 65611) in Bayonne, New Jersey; Coast Guard Cutter Joshua Appleby (WLM 556) in St. Petersburg, Florida; Coast Guard Cutter Frank Drew (WLM 557) in Portsmouth, Virginia; Aspen in San Francisco; and most recently Coast Guard Cutter Resolute (WMEC 620) in St. Petersburg.

“After observing the standards of excellence you have set, I am deeply honored to take command, with the privilege of serving alongside you and serving you,” said Vanden Heuvel.

The change-of-command ceremony is a time-honored tradition that formally transfers responsibility, authority and accountability from one commanding officer to another.

Commissioned in 1976, Polar Star is the United States’ only surface asset capable of providing year-round access to both polar regions. It is a 399-foot heavy polar icebreaker commissioned in 1976. The cutter weighs 13,500 tons and is 84 feet wide with a 34-foot draft. Its six diesel and three gas turbine engines produce up to 75,000 horsepower.