Navy Deploys a Third Destroyer to Defend Southern Border
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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<\/em> (DDG 111) will return to port.\u00a0<\/p>\n USS Stockdale<\/em>, 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 <\/em>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.\u00a0<\/p>\n Stockdale <\/em>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 <\/em>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.\u00a0<\/p>\n After transiting a total of 44,000 nautical miles, Stockdale <\/em>returned to San Diego on February 21, and has now departed on mission again after seven weeks in port.\u00a0<\/p>\n “Stockdale\u2019s <\/em>departure reinforces the Navy\u2019s role in the Department of Defense\u2019s coordinated efforts to comply with the [presidential] order,” the Navy said in a statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n Indirectly, the destroyer deployments illustrate the cost-effectiveness of Coast Guard vessel platforms for low-end interdiction missions. Whether operating in U.S. coastal waters or deploying\u00a0to the Persian Gulf, coast guard cutters go to sea without a surface combatant’s massive overhead: running an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer requires salaries and training for 300 crewmembers, plus parts and maintenance for an advanced air defense radar, sonar system,\u00a0Aegis combat system, and the most sophisticated assortment of missiles found\u00a0on any surface combatant.\u00a0The U.S. Navy estimates that the total operating costs of one destroyer exceed $220,000 per day.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \t
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