Third Navy destroyer heads to southern waters as administration strengthens maritime border security

The Navy connected Friday announced a 3rd destroyer is being sent to the confederate borderline to assistance successful the ongoing efforts to patrol the U.S.-Mexico bound successful an effort to curb amerciable migration and cause smuggling.

Navy officials said the USS Cole, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, has departed Mayport, Florida, to enactment confederate borderline operations.

Earlier this year, the USS Spurance deployed from its homeport of San Diego, and the USS Gravely deployed from its homeport of Norfolk, Virginia.

Both vessels are presently sailing successful waters connected either broadside of Mexico, with a Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET) squad connected board. Together, the crews volition enactment intimately with the Coast Guard to intercept cause trafficking operations.

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The guided rocket destroyer USS Cole astatine sea.   (Courtesy of U.S. Navy/Getty Images)

The Cole volition instrumentality implicit duties from the Gravely and commence akin operations successful enactment of U.S. Northern Command’s (NORTHCOM) border information objectives, the Navy said.

The Gravely entered the Gulf of America connected March 15, and since past has received enactment from P-8 craft assigned to Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida, allowing for enhanced and accrued recognition of illicit enactment by the Coast Guard.

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The guided-missile destroyer USS Gravely (DDG 107). (U.S. Navy photograph by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Anderson W. Branch)

"USS Gravely remains astatine the forefront of maritime operations, acceptable to instrumentality connected immoderate challenge," USS Gravely Cmdr. Gregory Piorun said. "We volition proceed to basal strong, support captious waters, and guarantee that justness prevails. True to our motto, we stay always, ‘First to Conquer.’"

The USS Spruance deploys to the U.S. Northern Command Area of Responsibility. (U.S. Navy)

Gravely helped prehend an estimated 860 pounds of amerciable drugs from a vas successful the Caribbean Sea connected May 25. The interdiction by Gravely was conducted by the ship’s Visit, Board, Search and Seizure (VBSS) squad alongside a LEDET assigned to the ship.

The VBSS squad boarded the vas and discovered and seized 19 bales of cocaine, with an approximate value of 860 pounds, estimated to beryllium valued astatine much than $13.6 million, according to the Navy.

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"This cognition supports the administration’s absorption connected integrated homeland defence and maritime borderline security," Capt. Raymond Jackson, commanding serviceman of Coast Guard Tactical Law Enforcement Team South, said. "By uniting Coast Guard instrumentality enforcement expertise with Navy scope and surveillance, we’re enhancing deterrence, expanding domain consciousness and reinforcing our committedness to protecting the homeland."