The guided missile destroyer USS Sampson interdicted a smuggling vessel carrying more than $58 million in cocaine in June 2025. U.S. NAVY
A United States Navy guided-missile destroyer spotted a drug-smuggling vessel in the eastern Pacific in June 2025, dispatching a U.S. Coast Guard law enforcement detachment (LED) to board the vessel and arrest three suspected smugglers. The USS Sampson’s interdiction of the smuggling operation was the latest in a recent flurry of activity as the Navy takes on a greater role in homeland defense under the direction of U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM).
On June 22, the Sampson was sailing in the Eastern Pacific when a Navy helicopter crew that took off from the Arleigh Burke-class ship spotted a vessel acting suspiciously at 5:34 p.m. local time. Coast Guard LED 105 launched on a small boat from the Sampson to board the vessel. On board, they found 3,561 kilograms of cocaine worth about $58.1 million, according to a USNORTHCOM news release. The smuggling boat was later sunk as it was unseaworthy and a hazard to maritime navigation, the release stated. The suspected smugglers were taken into custody on the Sampson.
“U.S. Northern Command is working together with the Department of Homeland Security to provide military forces and capabilities at the southern border. Sampson is employed under USNORTHCOM’s maritime homeland defense authorities with a Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment embarked to enable maritime interdiction missions to prevent the flow of illegal drugs and other illegal activity,” the USNORTHCOM release stated.
The Sampson, which undertook its inaugural voyage in 2009, has a crew of nearly 400. The 155.3-meter ship is equipped with torpedoes, a range of missiles and a heavy complement of cannons, including a 127 mm gun. The ship departed Naval Base San Diego on June 3, relieving the USS Charleston, a littoral combat ship, to fulfill USNORTHCOM’s mission to defend the southern approaches to the U.S. The Sampson is the third Navy ship from Naval Base San Diego since April 2025 to take part in USNORTHCOM’s homeland defense mission.
“The Sampson will conduct operations in direct support of USNORTHCOM’s mission to protect the homeland by enhancing maritime domain awareness and deterring illicit activities in coordination with U.S. interagency and law enforcement partners. The deployment is part of the Department of Defense’s support to national objectives along the U.S. southern border, following Presidential directives and ongoing interagency efforts to improve border security and homeland defense,” a June 2025 Navy news release stated.
U.S. Navy warships have seized drugs and illegally trafficked migrants repeatedly in recent months. The USS Gravely intercepted a vessel in the Caribbean Sea in May, seizing more than $13 million in cocaine. Canadian and Dutch warships also stopped smuggling operations and seized still more cocaine days later. In early June, a Coast Guard cutter unloaded more than $138 million of cocaine in Florida that was confiscated during those busts.