Healy is named in honor of United States Revenue Cutter Service Captain Michael A. Healy. Her keel was laid on 16 September 1996. Healy joined the icebreakers and in their homeport of Seattle, on 10 November 1999. The ship departed New Orleans, on 26 January 2000, performing sea trials off of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and in Baffin Bay, between Canada and Greenland. She arrived in Seattle on 9 August 2000, after transiting the famed Northwest Passage and was placed "In Commission, Active" on 21 August 2000.
