U.S. Navy Dispatches Second Destroyer to Patrol ‘Southern Border’

Following last week’s deployment of the USS Gravely to the southern border, the U.S. Navy announced the departure of another Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer to support border operations. 

USS Spruance (DDG 111) will be patrolling the Pacific waters of the border region in the USNORTHCOM area of responsibility.

“USS Spruance’s deployment as part of U.S. Northern Command’s southern border mission brings additional capability and expands the geography of unique military capabilities working with the Department of Homeland Security,” said Gen. Gregory Guillot, Commander, U.S. Northern Command.

Last week the U.S. Northern Command deployed the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Gravely (DDG 107) as part of a new integrated response between the U.S. Coast Guard and the Navy to secure the southern border.

Gravely was deployed with Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET) teams aboard specially trained for maritime interdiction missions, including counter-terrorism, alien migration interdiction, and homeland security operations. Spruance carries the same embedded USCG detachment on board.

“With Spruance off the West Coast and USS Gravely in the Gulf of America, our maritime presence contributes to the all-domain, coordinated DOD response to the Presidential Executive Order and demonstrates our resolve to achieve operational control of the border,” Guillot continued.

Spruance had returned to Naval Base San Diego in December 2024 after a five-months deployment in the 5th and 7th fleet areas of operation as part of the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group (ABECSG). The destroyer participated in efforts to degrade the Houthi threat in the Red Sea area and escorted commercial vessels in international waterways around Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden.

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