Eric J. Chandler / U.S. Coast Guard via AFP - Getty Images

Tanker vessel Renda remains offshore as the transfer of 1.3 million gallons of fuel nears completion on January 18, 2012. The Coast Guard Cutter Healy has been escorting and breaking ice for Renda since Jan. 3, and will soon begin breaking more than 300 miles of ice for the return trip. The Russian tanker completed the delivery on Jan. 19 of 1.3 million gallons of fuel to a remote Alaskan port, after an unprecedented operation helped by a US ice-breaker, officials said. The Vladivostok-based "Renda" began pumping fuel ashore to the town of Nome late Monday, after battling across 300 miles of Arctic ice with the help of the US Coast Guard ship "Healy."

With fuel transfer complete, ships prepare for 300 mile return trip home

While the goal of transferring 1.3 million gallons to Nome was successful, there is still a long journey ahead for the ships and crew before their mission is really over.

AP reports:

"I don't really feel like it is over yet until everybody is safely through the ice," said Jason Evans, board chairman of Sitnasuak Native Corp., the corporation that arranged for the tanker delivery.

Evans called the transfer of the fuel "a huge milestone" but said the mission was not over. The tanker and icebreaker still need to get out of the frozen ice and back home, he said.

The plan is for the icebreaker to help get the tanker back through the ice and to open water where the tanker will head for Russia. The icebreaker will go to Dutch Harbor, Alaska to drop off supplies and then to its home port in Seattle.

Read the full story.

See more images of the icebreaker's journey to Nome in PhotoBlog.

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