29 October 2015: "Healy" received the Coast Guard Unit Commendation award for exceptionally meritorious service from 24 June to 29 October 2015, during their Arctic West Summer 2015 deployment. "Healy" traveled over , took over 25,000 water and ice samples from 72 science stations, and became the first unaccompanied U.S. surface vessel to reach the North Pole. She also engaged with the crew of the German icebreaker while at the North Pole, in support of the international scientific mission Geotraces. Finally, "Healy" became the first vessel to broadcast a live feed from ice-bound Arctic waters, streaming video of a search and rescue exercise to shore-based coordinators.