Navy Deploys a Third Destroyer to Defend Southern Border

The U.S. Navy has deployed another Arleigh Burke-class destroyer to patrol waters around the U.S. southern border, the third announced in a month. The previously-deployed destroyer USS Spruance (DDG 111) will return to port.

USS Stockdale, a veteran of the Red Sea maritime security campaign, departed San Diego on Friday to perform duties in support of border security. President Donald Trump has ordered a surge of military and civilian assets to support border enforcement and deportation operations, drawing on personnel and equipment from the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Army and Navy, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Stockdale and other Navy vessels with law-enforcement missions ship out with embarked Coast Guard boarding teams (LEDETs), with personnel who have the training and legal authority to perform routine arrests.

Stockdale deployed to 5th Fleet and 7th Fleet last year in support of the campaign to defend shipping from Houthi attacks, and spent seven months away from home port. While she was in 5th Fleet, Stockdale repelled "multiple Iranian-backed Houthi attacks" in the Strait of Bab el-Mandeb and escorted U.S.-flagged ships through the Gulf of Aden. She also joined the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group for part of the tour. Her crew engaged the full spectrum of Houthi threats, including drones, antiship ballistic missiles and antiship cruise missiles.

After transiting a total of 44,000 nautical miles, Stockdale returned to San Diego on February 21, and has now departed on mission again after seven weeks in port.

"Stockdale’s departure reinforces the Navy’s role in the Department of Defense’s coordinated efforts to comply with the [presidential] order," the Navy said in a statement.

Indirectly, the Navy destroyer deployments illustrate the cost-effectiveness of Coast Guard vessel platforms for low-end interdiction missions. Whether operating in coastal waters, South America or the Persian Gulf, cutters do not have to sustain the 300-strong crew, air defense radar, sonar, Aegis combat system and weapons package of a full-size Arleigh Burke, the most lethal surface combatant class in the world. U.S. Navy estimates for the annualized operating costs of an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer exceed $200,000 per day.