The destroyer USS Stockdale will take over from USS Spruance, which began supporting border security efforts in March.
The U.S. Navy has dispatched a warship to help support ongoing U.S. border security operations on April 11.
The guided-missile destroyer USS Stockdale departed from Naval Base San Diego on Friday, with orders to support multi-agency efforts along the U.S.–Mexico border.
“Stockdale’s departure reinforces the Navy’s role in the Department of Defense’s coordinated effort in response to the Presidential Executive Order,” the Navy Fleet Force Command said in a statement announcing the deployment.
A U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment is embarked aboard the destroyer, and the ship stands ready to assist in a range of missions, including maritime interdictions and humanitarian operations.
Stockdale is taking over responsibilities for the destroyer USS Spruance, which deployed from San Diego on March 22.
The warship was deployed on the same day President Donald Trump issued a memorandum, authorizing the U.S. military to assert control over areas along the U.S. southern border, to better detect and prevent cross-border human smuggling and drug trafficking.
“Our southern border is under attack from a variety of threats. The complexity of the current situation requires that our military take a more direct role in securing our southern border than in the recent past,” Trump wrote in the memo, addressed to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins.
Trump’s memo specifies federal lands where the military may assert control in order to facilitate the installation of new border barriers, along with detection and monitoring equipment.
Since taking office in January, Trump has boosted the overall military footprint along the U.S.–Mexico border.
By Ryan Morgan
