The United States Navy is engaged in twenty-first-century “gunboat diplomacy” after it announced that a second Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer had been sent to support southern border operations.
The U.S. Northern Command announced that USS Spruance departed from Naval Base San Diego on Saturday, just days after USS Gravely was deployed to patrol the Caribbean Sea and the newly renamed Gulf of America to provide security for the United States-Mexico border.
While the USS Gravely was deployed from Naval Station Mayport, Florida, and will operate near the coast of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, the USS Spruance will remain in the Pacific and patrol the waters near San Diego.
“You can think of operations in the Gulf of America being a predominant part of [southern border enforcement] for the East Coast ship, and then on the West Coast ship, you can think of the area in and around the San Diego area, and that traffic area coming in between Mexico and the United States,” Adm. Daryl Caudle, commander of U.S. Fleet Forces, told reporters per USNI News.
The deployment of U.S. Navy warships is part of the White House effort to secure the southern border, which the administration has deemed an invasion, even as illegal crossings are down sharply.
U.S. Navy Boeing P-8A Poseidon multi-mission maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft would be employed in an intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) mission, and U.S. Air Force Lockheed U-2 Dragon Lady spy planes are also conducting patrol flights along the southern border.
Those flights began after President Donald Trump issued an executive order just days returned to the White House.
Increased Southern Border Presence Unusual but Not Unprecedented
USS Gravely is conducting its patrols with a U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET) team embarked, and this is far from the first time.
“In 2022, the Arleigh-Burke class destroyer Momsen worked with a Coast Guard interdiction team in the Gulf of Oman to intercept $39 million in illegal drugs. The same year, the destroyer Nitze intercepted an estimated $20 million in illicit drugs at sea. Further, in 2024, the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser Leyte Gulf and an LEDET team intercepted a semi-submersible craft in the Atlantic packed with 2,370 kilos of cocaine,” the Military Times report explained and noted the variety of watercraft that criminal organizations and drug cartels employ.
That has included so-called “Go Fast Vessels” (GFV), “customized for drug running,” according to a 2020 Forbes story from noted naval analyst H. I. Sutton.
“A working definition of a go-fast is a power boat which primarily employs speed to evade capture. By contrast, narco submarines use their low profile to avoid detection. So, it is speed versus stealth. The narco subs can generally carry more drugs and are harder to counter, but they are more difficult and expensive to build,” Sutton wrote.
There has also been speculation that as land border security increases, drug cartels and other criminal organizations may look to maritime routes instead.
The U.S. Coast Guard announced this month that it recently arrested seventeen suspected drug traffickers and seized approximately $141 million in illicit drugs being smuggled by sea.
“These seizures are a testament to the Coast Guard’s continued dedication to safeguard America by securing our maritime borders,” said Lt. Junior Grade Jesus Martinez Borges, Seventh Coast Guard District enforcement officer.
“The Coast Guard and our partners work tirelessly to deny drug trafficking organizations access to smuggling routes bound for the United States. Our efforts contribute to federal investigations and prosecutions seeking to disrupt and dismantle transnational criminal activity abroad, threatening Americans at home.”
From Combat Deployments to Southern Border Patrol
The two Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers now taking part in a border patrol mission had been deployed to the Middle East last year. USS Spruance, named for Admiral Raymond A. Spruance, commander of the U.S. Navy at the Battles of Midway and the Philippine Sea, spent five months operating with the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group (ALCSG) in the Red Sea.
The USS Gravely, named for U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Samuel L. Gravely Jr., had previously been deployed to the Middle East, serving in the Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group (DDECSG).
In January 2024, a Houthi anti-ship cruise missile came within a mile of the USS Spruance and was only shot down by the vessel’s Phalanx Close-in Weapons System (CIWS).
About the Author: Peter Suciu
Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites, with over 3,200 published pieces and over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author at [email protected].
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