Braxton Taylor
The Navy plans to send a second warship to patrol the waters off the U.S. by the end of this week after a destroyer was deployed on Saturday as part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration and the border, a U.S. official confirmed to Military.com on Wednesday.
The official, who was given anonymity to discuss military plans, told Military.com that a second destroyer will deploy from the West Coast, joining the USS Gravely, which left a naval base in Virginia over the weekend headed for the waters around the U.S.-Mexico border.
U.S. Northern Command announced Saturday that the Gravely deployed with a Coast Guard law enforcement detachment aboard, allowing the vessel to conduct missions such as ship interdictions and drug seizures. The Trump administration has already deployed thousands of troops to the southern border and designated Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations amid promises to curb border crossings.
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The Coast Guard seemed to reveal the plan to deploy a second warship on Tuesday when it released a statement that touted its success in interdicting drug shipments at sea and repeatedly mentioned it was working with more than one Navy ship.
“U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM) deployed two U.S. Navy warships to the southern border to support Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Coast Guard operations,” the statement said.
Cmdr. Liza Dougherty, a spokeswoman for Northern Command, wouldn’t confirm or deny the plan for a second destroyer to join the Gravely.
The Coast Guard’s statement said “these U.S. Navy warships” — plural — “will operate in direct support of the Coast Guard and carry Coast Guard law enforcement teams.”
Adm. Kevin Lunday, the Coast Guard’s acting commandant, was also quoted in the news release as saying that “these Navy ships provide unique capability to complement U.S. Coast Guard operations to achieve 100% operational control of the border.”
Unlike a Coast Guard cutter, a Navy destroyer is a far more heavily armed vessel — the Gravely alone can carry 96 missiles, including Tomahawk Land Attack cruise missiles — and it is moving into the area after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wouldn’t rule out conducting strikes into Mexico less than two months ago.
However, for now, officials say that the mission of these destroyers will be assisting the Coast Guard with patrolling the border.
Lt. Gen. Alex Grynkewich, the operations boss for the Joint Staff, who briefed reporters Monday, said that the Gravely would “be involved in the interdiction mission for any of the drugs and whatnot that are heading in.”
It is not clear how long the destroyers plan to be at sea carrying out their mission — several officials wouldn’t say, citing operational security — but Northern Command’s news release on the Gravely used the phrase “scheduled deployment,” which typically means a multiple-month mission.
The deployment of not one but two warships to the waters off the U.S. is highly unusual.
Northern Command, which has been around since 2002, is largely set up to cover defense of the homeland, and its commander oversees much of the waters off the coast of America and Mexico but not Central America or the Caribbean. The latter belong to the head of U.S. Southern Command.
Officials at the Navy’s History and Heritage Command told Military.com on Wednesday that Navy ships do frequently participate in short exercises, operations and patrols within Northern Command, but deployments of multiple months are very unusual outside of a disaster response.
The officials said that, since the Cuban Missile Crisis, Dominican Republic, and various Haiti incidents were all within the Southern Command’s area of responsibility, “it’s entirely possible there hasn’t been anything major since Vera Cruz in 1914.”
The Battle of Vera Cruz was a seven-month military conflict between the U.S. and Mexico that took place in the Mexican port city of Vera Cruz amid poor diplomatic relations between the two countries that stemmed from the ongoing Mexican Revolution.
— Patricia Kime contributed to this report.
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