The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Gravely is moored at Naval Weapons Station Yorktown in Virginia on March 15 before getting underway for a deployment to the U.S. Northern Command area of responsibility. U.S. Northern Command is working with the Department of Homeland Security to augment U.S. Customs and Border Protection along the southern border with additional military forces. RYAN WILLIAMS/U.S. NAVY
THE WATCH STAFF
The Department of Defense (DOD) has deployed a Navy destroyer to bolster the U.S.-Mexico border mission, defense officials said, sending a warship to waters typically patrolled by the Coast Guard. The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Gravely left Naval Weapons Station Yorktown on a scheduled deployment to the U.S. Northern Command Area of Responsibility (USNORTHCOM AOR) on March 15.
“USS Gravely’s deployment will contribute to the U.S. Northern Command southern border mission as part of the DOD’s coordinated effort in response to the Presidential Executive Order” to secure the border, said Gen. Gregory M. Guillot, commander of USNORTHCOM and North American Aerospace Defense Command. “Gravely’s sea-going capacity improves our ability to protect the United States’ territorial integrity, sovereignty and security.”
A USNORTHCOM news release said the deployment “highlights the Department of Defense and Navy’s dedication to national security priorities, contributing to a coordinated and robust response to combating maritime related terrorism, weapons proliferation, transnational crime, piracy, environmental destruction, and illegal seaborne immigration.”
Navy Adm. Daryl Caudle, head of U.S. Fleet Forces and the naval forces component commander for USNORTHCOM, said: “The deployment of Gravely marks a vital enhancement to our nation’s border security framework. In collaboration with our interagency partners, Gravely strengthens our maritime presence and exemplifies the Navy’s commitment to national security and safeguarding our territorial integrity with professionalism and resolve.”
Speaking to reporters on March 17, Caudle said it is unusual to deploy a ship like the Gravely for maritime interdiction. “This is putting our toe in the water a bit to understand it, to make sure that we know how to employ this force,” he said. “Is the return on investment for this level of capability going to return good, fruitful utilization of it? And so, this first round will educate us on that to see if further continued, I think, global utilization of these forces is required.”
The Gravely will cruise the Gulf of America predominantly under USNORTHCOM’s control, though it may venture into the U.S. Southern Command AOR, Caudle said, according to Stars and Stripes. “It is a bit unique to deploy a capability of this level for this mission set, but I think it goes to the commitment that Navy has to the president and secretary of defense to support the southern border operations,” he said.
The Gravely’s exact tasking, Caudle said, might be intelligence gathering initially but could expand, Stars and Stripes reported. A U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET) will be aboard the Gravely. Coast Guard LEDETs carry out various maritime interdiction missions. “Those missions could blend a bit as we are focused on stopping transnational criminal trafficking activities and working with the Coast Guard to support them fully for homeland defense,” Caudle said.
At nearly 510 feet long, the Gravely is larger than all Coast Guard vessels and is armed with dozens of Tomahawk cruise missiles. In 2024, the Gravely escorted the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower to the Red Sea and shot down missiles fired by Houthi militants aimed at commercial and military ships.