USS Sampson was dispatched to support the White House’s southern border priorities earlier this year.
This week, the Navy’s USS Sampson destroyer carried out a drug interdiction in the Eastern Pacific along with the Coast Guard. According to the service, the vessels intercepted three suspected drug smugglers and thousands of pounds of illegal drugs in the US Northern Command’s theatre of operation. As detailed by the Navy, “LEDET 105 crew members discovered three suspected drug smugglers aboard the vessel, all claiming non-U.S. nationality. The packages aboard the vessel tested positive for cocaine. All three individuals aboard were taken into custody aboard the Sampson. The vessel, determined to be without nationality, was later sunk as a hazard to navigation.” In an atypical move, USS Sampson was dispatched to support the White House’s southern border priorities earlier this year.
In May, another Arleigh Burke-class destroyer took part in a joint drug bust with the Coast Guard in the Caribbean Sea. The US 2nd Fleet announced that USS Gravely had played a critical role in the mission which resulted in the seizure of nearly $14 million in cocaine. Following President Donald Trump’s executive order regarding the southern border, the use of destroyers in these types of missions has become more common. As part of the president’s executive action, more resources would be allocated to counter the “influx of illegal aliens and illicit opioids” at the border.
The Arleigh Burke-class
The Navy’s fleet of Arleigh Burke destroyers serves as multi-mission, anti-warfare, anti-submarine warfare, and anti-surface warfare combatants. Named to honor American World War II admiral Arleigh Burke, these guided missile vessels have remained in service for nearly one-quarter of a century. The Arleigh Burke warships were built to incorporate lessons from the earlier Ticonderoga-class cruisers, which were prematurely nixed due to high costs and challenging construction timelines.
Like some of the Navy’s newer surface combatants, DDG 51 uses gas turbine propulsion. Each Arleigh Burke ship features four General Electric LM 2500 gas turbines to produce 100,000 total shaft horsepower by a dual shaft design. Also similar to the service’s older destroyer classes, the Arleigh Burke platform centers around the Aegis Weapon System. As explained by Military.com, “AWS is composed of the SPY-1D multi-function phased array radar, advanced AAW and ASW systems, VLS, and the Tomahawk Weapon System. These advances allow the Arleigh Burke-class to continue the revolution at sea.”
USS Sampson
USS Sampson (DDG-102) first launched back in the early 2000s, becoming the 52nd Arleigh Burke-class destroyer introduced. Following its maiden deployment to the Western Pacific and Persian Gulf in 2010, Sampson has participated in many international joint exercises and scheduled deployments within the carrier strike groups it accompanied over the years. Sampson was dispatched to replace the USS Charleston in supporting the border operations prioritized by the Trump administration earlier this month. As the administration continues to build up the US military presence near the US-Mexico boundary, additional Arleigh Burkes may soon follow suit.
About the Author: Maya Carlin
Maya Carlin, National Security Writer with The National Interest, is an analyst with the Center for Security Policy and a former Anna Sobol Levy Fellow at IDC Herzliya in Israel. She has by-lines in many publications, including The National Interest, Jerusalem Post, and Times of Israel. You can follow her on Twitter: @MayaCarlin. Carlin has over 1,000 articles published over the last several years on various defense issues.
Image: DVIDS.
