A rendering of Davie Defense’s “American Icebreaker Factory,” a planned $1 billion transformation of the historic Gulf Copper shipyard in Galveston, Texas. Image courtesy Davie
Davie Defense Inc., the newest entrant to the American shipbuilding sector, has revealed detailed plans for a $1 billion overhaul of the historic Gulf Copper shipyard in Galveston, Texas, aiming to create the “American Icebreaker Factory”—a purpose-built facility for constructing U.S. Coast Guard’s Arctic Security Cutters.
The project plans, announced Wednesday, marks what the company describes as the largest single increase in U.S. shipbuilding capacity in decades.
Note, this is intended to build the medium “Arctic Security Cutter.”
Chuck Hill's CG Blog 
I visited one of the new RCN icebreakers, when it was moored in Toronto, a year or so ago. Taking a close look at this picture, I’d say these vessels are a bit smaller. My recollection is that the RCN vessel had enclosed hangars for boats the size of the USCG OTH boats, AND for small landing craft like boats. The picture seems to say the USCG vessels can carry 30 time TEU containers. Wow! That is a lot of containers! I tried to imagine how much hull space that would take up. I think it would go considerable way below the hangar deck. I think it would butt up against the engine room. Presumably the moon pool, and science labs would be below the accommodation section, forward of the engine room. The RCN vessels were designed for a small crew — about 60 IIRC. Is the crew of these USCG vessels also small? I think these vessels will be pretty crowded.
FWIW, aren’t the Russians building icebreaking warships of similar size to the Svalbard and RCN vessels — but much more heavily armed? I think they are supposed to carry a couple of dozen anti-ship missiles, in addition to cannons much more powerful than the Bushmaster 25mm.
Thanks for sharing.
Davie’s proposed ASC design was actually featured in an earlier post:
https://chuckhillscgblog.net/2025/08/21/exclusive-first-look-at-davie-helsinki-shipyards-arctic-security-cutter-design-sixty-degrees-north/
In terms of size, the MPPS 100 has greater displacement than the other ships you mentioned but could be described as “stubby” whereas the Canadian and Russian icebreaking offshore patrol vessels are perhaps more “slender”. This is due to its lineage: under the USCG livery is a reworked icebreaking supply vessel designed for the Russian subarctic oil and gas fields, seven of which were built in 2005–2018 by the Finnish shipyard that Davie has recently acquired.
The Project 23550 patrol vessels that Russia is building are intended to be armed with containerized anti-ship cruise missiles. The arrangement is actually similar to Davie’s proposal of using the Mk 70 launch system on the ASC. Their three-inch deck gun is, however, of considerably higher caliber.