A major component of the U.S. strategy to fight the drug war is to intercept narcotics before they reach their domestic distribution points.
Much of that volume comes to the country via the Carribean and the Eastern Pacific Ocean as illicit cargo in specialized craft cartels construct to get highly profitable drugs — like uncut cocaine — into the U.S.
The front line of the U.S. effort is the Coast Guard. Cutters are not only equipped to find, interdict and arrest drug runners but they have the legal authority to take cases to international prosecution.
USNI News spoke with Capt. Nathan Moore, commander of USCGC Stratton (WMSL-752) about his ship, his crew and how they intercepted one of the largest drug hauls in U.S. law enforcement history — $1 billion in raw cocaine.
