
Destroyer USS Spruance (DDG-111) will deploy to support U.S. Northern Command’s ongoing mission at the southern border, USNI News has learned.
The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer will be the second destroyer to deploy as part of President Donald Trump’s call to secure the southern border, a U.S. official confirmed to USNI News. USS Gravely (DDG-107) deployed earlier this week to the Gulf Coast as part of the U.S. military’s response to Trump’s executive order declaring a national emergency at the border.
Like Gravely, Spruance will also take a U.S. Coast Guard law enforcement detachment on the mission when it leaves from Naval Station San Diego, which is the ship’s homeport.
Military.com first reported that the U.S. Navy would send a second destroyer to support the border mission.
U.S. Fleet Forces commander Adm. Daryl Caudle told reporters earlier this week that Gravely – which is based at Naval Station Mayport in Florida – would operate off the coast of Florida, Alabama and Louisiana. He also said West Coast-based destroyers could support the mission from the waters off San Diego.
“But you can think of operations in the Gulf of America being a predominant part of [southern border enforcement] for the East Coast ship, and then on the West Coast ship, you can think of the area in and around the San Diego area, and that traffic area coming in between Mexico and the United States,” Caudle said.
Spruance returned to San Diego just before Christmas after deploying with the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group last year. The destroyer operated in the Red Sea and countered Houthi attacks on both commercial shipping and U.S. warships operating in the region.
Gravely‘s deployment will see the ship mostly operating in NORTHCOM, but Caudle said the ship could also end up in U.S. Southern Command.
“In support of U.S. Northern Command’s mission to restore territorial integrity at the U.S. southern border, Gravely reinforces the nation’s commitment to border security by enhancing maritime efforts and supporting interagency collaboration,” reads the NORTHCOM news release announcing Gravely‘s deployment.
“The ship’s 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.”
Gravely also deployed to the Red Sea last year. The destroyer was part of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group.
The Navy sent multiple destroyers to the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific in 2020 to perform counter-drug missions. Littoral Combat Ships and a Spearhead-class Expeditionary Fast Transport (EPF) also supported the efforts at the time.
East Coast-based destroyers like Gravely are part of a Navy effort called Task Group Greyhound aimed at enduring the sea service always has ships it can deploy to track Russian submarines in the Atlantic Ocean.