Warship captain explains why the military sent his destroyer fresh off the Red Sea fight to the US southern border

Business Insider

23-05-2025

The captain of one of three US Navy destroyers that deployed this spring to support the military's southern border mission after spending months battling the Iran-backed Houthis in the Red Sea says his warship was well-suited to both assignments.
Amid questions of whether the southern border deployments were overkill, the military acknowledged that it was "a bit unique to deploy a capability of this level for this mission set." But it sent an unmistakable message.
Unlike the Red Sea mission, at the southern border, the value of these warfighting ships isn't as much the firepower they bring to a potential fight but rather the capabilities that other vessels lack, such as robust communications and sensor suites, and endurance.
Cdr. Jacob Beckelhymer, the commanding officer of USS Stockdale, told Business Insider that the maritime security missions are familiar taskings and "part of the broad set of things that destroyers do."
The Stockdale just recently returned to its homeport in San Diego after spending weeks deployed off the coast of southern California in support of US military operations at the southern border.
Transnational criminal operations coming out of Mexico were at the top of the US intelligence community's 2025 Annual Threat Assessment, and the Trump administration has made cracking down on maritime criminal activity, from illegal immigration to human and drug trafficking, priorities.
In addition to thousands of military personnel, the administration has dispatched a range of military assets to the border area, including the three destroyers that battled the Houthis last year.
The Stockdale, like USS Spruance and USS Gravely, had an embarked US Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment for its southern border deployment. These are Coast Guard teams that specialize in law-enforcement operations at sea, such as counterterrorism, counter-piracy, and anti-immigration missions.
Arleigh Burke-class destroyers like the Stockdale are equipped with missile tubes that carry a mix of surface-to-air and land-attack munitions and different guns, such as a five-inch deck gun, machine guns, and a Phalanx Close-In Weapons System.
This extensive loadout was needed to battle the Houthis, as the Stockdale and other Navy warships routinely came under rebel missile and drone attacks. The warships faced a very different threat environment at the southern border than in the Red Sea. Beckelhymer said Stockdale's weapon system was in a "different configuration" since they didn't expect to be shot at. At the southern border, the emphasis was on other capabilities.
"The sensor suite is incredible. My surface radar tracking ability, I think, far exceeds what we normally see, particularly on the smaller Coast Guard cutters," Beckelhymer said. "And then I've also got a much larger team."
He touted the ship's combat information center, a multimission room with many monitors that display maps and radars, as an essential tool for monitoring possible smuggling situations and recommending whether it's worth following up.
As Henry Ziemer, an Americas Program fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, previously wrote, a destroyer has "powerful sensors and electronics that can be assets for detecting small boats and semisubmersibles used for illicit activities."
These ships can also coordinate additional assets, he said, and function as a force multiplier.
Beckelhymer said the MH-60R Seahawk helicopter embarked on the Stockdale provides faster air coverage than relying on something from the shore. The helicopter is equipped with a very capable radar and communications suite and can share real-time data and video feed with the destroyer.
The captain said the Stockdale is also an endurance platform. The ship can "stay on station considerably longer" and carry more fuel and food.
During its deployment, Stockdale served as a command-and-control platform, providing maritime awareness and surveillance to the Coast Guard assets operating in the area. The destroyer played a role in helping them apprehend suspected smuggling vessels, and Beckelhymer's crew saved the lives of mariners who were caught adrift with no food or water on board.
Speaking to the missions that his warship has supported, Beckelhymer said "it's really, really humbling to watch young men and women put to action the things that it takes to operate a destroyer at sea in support of priority missions for two separate fleet commanders."