Navy
Destroyer USS Cole joins mission at southern border
Stars and Stripes
June 8, 2025
The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Cole arrives in port for Fleet Week Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on April 22, 2025. (Jacob Sippel/U.S. Navy)
The destroyer USS Cole has joined U.S. Northern Command’s southern border operations meant to deter illegal crossing and drug trafficking.
Cole, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, left Naval Station Mayport, Fla., on Thursday and will relieve USS Gravely, also a guided-missile destroyer, in supporting the border operations that President Donald Trump has made a top priority in his second administration.
The Cole will operate with a Coast Guard law enforcement detachment on board that officials have said brings specialized expertise in maritime interdiction to help address a range of challenges, from countering illegal activities to supporting humanitarian efforts and homeland security operations.
USS Gravely has been in the Gulf since March 15.
On May 25, Gravely’s search and seizure team had boarded a “vessel of interest” and found 19 bales of cocaine. A spokesperson for the Navy said the drugs had a street value of $13.6 million.
The Cole will join the USS Sampson, which left its homeport in San Diego on Tuesday to replace the USS Charleston.
The deployment comes as the Pentagon has added more troops to its border operations, where U.S. forces — mostly soldiers and Marines — have provided Customs and Border Protection officials with a range of support, including reconnaissance, construction, logistics and air-lift capabilities.
Top Army leaders on Thursday also said the National Guard was preparing to add some 20,000 Guard forces to operations to bolster the Department of Homeland Security. That department requested those forces last month to aid in Trump’s immigration crackdown efforts. Top Army officials told senators on Capitol Hill that decisions about what role the National Guard troops would play in those operations or what units they would come from had not yet been made.
In December, the Cole returned to Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia after a seven-month combat deployment that took the crew into the tense conflicts of the Middle East.
Stars and Stripes reporter Corey Dickstein contributed to this report.