Latest news with #USSMinneapolis-SaintPaul
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Yahoo
Coast Guard offloads more than $12M in cocaine, marijuana from Caribbean Sea
MIAMI, Fla. (WFLA)— The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Tampa's crew offloaded around 3,750 pounds of cocaine and marijuana during Fleet Week Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday in Port Everglades. The seized cocaine and marijuana are worth an estimated $12.3 million. According to the USCG, the seized drugs were a result of two interdictions in the Caribbean Sea by the crew of USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul and their embarked Navy helicopter and Coast Guard law enforcement. 'We train diligently and stand ready to execute interdiction missions at moment's notice,' said Cmdr. Steven Fresse, Minneapolis-Saint Paul commanding officer. 'To be able to make an immediate impact so early on during our maiden deployment is a testament to the hard work and skills of the ship's crew.' The crews involved in the operation were: USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul U.S. Coast Guard Tactical Law Enforcement team U.S. Navy helicopter maritime strike squadron Joint interagency task force-south Seventh Coast Guard District comment center watchstanders 'Fleet Week Fort Lauderdale was a great opportunity for our Coast Guard, Navy, and Marine Corps crews to showcase our sea services to communities here in South Florida,' said Cmdr. Walter Krolman, Tampa commanding officer. 'Today's offload demonstrates the value of our collaborative joint force operations far out to sea in protecting and defending Americans here at home from threats abroad. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Yahoo
USCG Tampa offloads $12.3 million in seized drugs after Caribbean bust
The Brief The Coast Guard offloaded 3,750 pounds of cocaine and marijuana in Fort Lauderdale. The drugs, valued at $12.3 million, were seized during two Caribbean interdictions. The busts involved Coast Guard detachments and the USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul on its maiden deployment. The U.S. Coast Guard ended Fleet Week Fort Lauderdale with a dramatic reminder of its mission at sea—offloading more than 3,700 pounds of seized cocaine and marijuana worth an estimated $12.3 million. The haul came from two separate interdictions in the Caribbean Sea during joint operations between the Coast Guard and U.S. Navy, including the USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul and an embarked Navy helicopter unit. The effort reflects an aggressive push to curb drug trafficking through coordinated action across military and law enforcement branches. The backstory The seizures were led by crews from the USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul during its maiden deployment, working in conjunction with Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET) 406 and Navy Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 50. "This is a testament to the hard work and skills of the ship's crew," said Cmdr. Steven Fresse, commanding officer of the Minneapolis-Saint Paul. "To make an immediate impact so early on in deployment shows how ready we are to act." Watchstanders from the Seventh Coast Guard District coordinated the law enforcement phase of the interdictions, which originated with detection and monitoring by the Joint Interagency Task Force-South in Key West. Timeline The process of interdicting illegal drugs in international waters requires layers of coordination. Detection typically begins with surveillance and intelligence operations, including aerial and maritime monitoring. Once a vessel suspected of trafficking is identified, the mission transitions into a law enforcement phase—led by the Coast Guard. After interception, seized contraband is documented, secured, and transported for offload. Wednesday's offload occurred at Port Everglades aboard the USCGC Tampa, a 270-foot cutter homeported in Portsmouth, Virginia. What they're saying Cmdr. Walter Krolman, commanding officer of the Tampa, emphasized the importance of combined efforts across U.S. sea services: "Fleet Week Fort Lauderdale was a great opportunity for our Coast Guard, Navy and Marine Corps crews to showcase our sea services to communities here in South Florida," he said. "Today's offload demonstrates the value of our collaborative joint force operations far out to sea in protecting and defending Americans here at home from threats abroad." The interdiction effort represents a growing trend of Navy-Coast Guard integration in counternarcotics missions, particularly in the Caribbean where trafficking routes remain active and dangerous. The Source This article is based on a U.S. Coast Guard press release issued by the Seventh Coast Guard District on April 24, 2025. All quotes, operational details, and drug seizure figures are directly sourced from the official statement, which credited the USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul, LEDET 406, Navy Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 50, and Joint Interagency Task Force-South with the successful interdictions. This story was reported from Los Angeles.
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Yahoo
Navy finally finds something the LCS is good at: Stopping drug smuggling
The oft-maligned Littoral Combat Ship, or LCS, may have found its true calling: chasing down smugglers. USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul, a Freedom-variant LCS, recently stopped two suspected drug smuggling operations within 72 hours 'through a combination of air and surface operations' while deployed to the Caribbean, according to the Navy. A Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment that is embarked aboard the ship and Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 50, Detachment Three helped the Minneapolis-Saint Paul seize nearly 1,279 pounds of cocaine worth about $9.5 million along with 2,480 pounds of marijuana worth roughly $2.8 million, according to an April 17 Navy news release. The successful operation is one of several examples in recent years of an LCS nabbing drug smugglers. In 2020, USS Gabrielle Giffords stopped a vessel in the Eastern Pacific that was carrying $106 million worth of suspected cocaine. In 2021, USS Wichita and USS Sioux City seized $17 million and more than $20 million worth of suspected cocaine, respectively in the Caribbean Sea. Not a bad haul for Littoral Combat Ships, vessels long beset by problems, including a serious design flaw in the Freedom-variant's propulsion system, prompting the Navy to decommission some of the ships after a short lifespan. The Sioux City was mothballed in 2023 after only five years of service. The LCS's reputation was so bad four years ago that then-Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday suggested to lawmakers that the service give the ships to other countries that 'would be able to use them effectively.' But the LCS is 'almost perfectly made' for operations against drug smugglers, said Brian Persons, who previously served as the civilian chief engineer and executive director of Naval Sea Systems Command and later became deputy chief of naval operations for warfare systems. 'Eventually, these ships, they find their place and niche in the warfighting world,' said Persons, who is currently a senior management scientist with the RAND Corporation. The Navy selected two different hull designs for Littoral Combat Ships: The Freedom- and Independence-variants. Freedom-class ships are among the smaller warships in the Navy. At 387 feet long, they are more than 100 feet shorter than an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer and displace less than half of the total tonnage, 3,400 tons to a destroyer's 8,400. But Littoral Combat Ships are fast, carry embarked helicopters and are brimming with air- and surface-search radar, all of which are helpful for nabbing drug smugglers, who tend to use go-fast boats and rudimentary submersibles, Persons told Task & Purpose. The ships are also armed with missiles, though they are unlikely to use them against drug smugglers due to the costs of the munitions, he said. Of all the Navy's warships, the LCS is probably the best choice for counternarcotics missions, said Persons, who explained that destroyers and cruisers are expensive ships that are designed for 'high-end' combat, such as ballistic missile defense. Also, drug smugglers tend to focus on speed in hopes of eluding detection rather than fighting back against pursuers, unlike military forces in China and Russia, which have advanced anti-ship weapons, Persons said. 'It would be extremely overkill for a destroyer or cruiser to go do counternarcotics missions,' Persons said. 'They could do it, but the Littoral Combat Ship system would be a better employment of assets for the U.S. Navy. While drug cartels currently do not pose a serious threat to U.S. Navy ships, that may not remain true forever, said James Holmes, the J. C. Wylie Chair of Maritime Strategy at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. 'If the Russia-Ukraine war and the operation in the Red Sea have shown anything, it's that naval warfare has been 'democratized,'' Holmes told Task & Purpose. 'Capabilities once available only to great powers are becoming available to many contenders.' Ukraine has managed to inflict losses on Russian ships using shore-launched missiles and drones, even though it does not have a significant navy itself, Holmes said. And Houithi rebels in Yemen have used missiles and drones to challenge Western navies, even though they have not hit any warships so far. 'Now, I doubt drug cartels will ever field antiship cruise or ballistic missiles, but they could well deploy cheap surface, air, or even subsurface drones against littoral combat ships,' Holmes said. 'LCS has been doing pretty well now that it has found its niche, but these are very lightly armored warships. The trimaran variant, the Independence class, even has an all-aluminum hull and a legacy of hull cracking. These are not rugged ships. So, I hope we aren't getting complacent during drug interdiction operations.' Top enlisted leader of Air Force Special Operations Command fired amid investigation The Marine in one of the most famous recruiting commercials is now in Congress 75th Ranger Regiment wins 2025 Best Ranger Competition Medal of Honor recipient Dakota Meyer reenlists in Marine Reserve Air Force pilots get a new way to pee at 30,000 feet
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Yahoo
US Navy warship on first deployment makes two drug busts in 72 hours
Two alleged drug smuggling operations were brought to a swift halt this month by the Freedom-class littoral combat ship Minneapolis-Saint Paul within a 72-hour span, resulting in the seizure of an estimated $12 million in illicit drugs during the ship's maiden deployment. The ship set sail on March 26 from its homeport of Naval Station Mayport, Florida, and steamed for the Caribbean Sea and the U.S. 4th Fleet area of operations. Just weeks into the deployment, the crew intercepted 580 kilograms of cocaine and 2,480 pounds of marijuana through combined air-surface operations. 'We train diligently and stand ready to execute interdiction missions at moment's notice,' Cmdr. Steven Fresse, commanding officer of the USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul, said in a release. 'To be able to make an immediate impact so early on during our maiden deployment is a testament to the hard work and skills of the ship's crew.' As an LCS, the vessel, which deployed in support of U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command, is designed for speed and operating in near-shore environments. The ship is currently assigned to Commander, Task Force 45, the surface task force of 4th Fleet responsible for carrying out combined operations, strengthening partnerships with Latin American and Caribbean nations and supporting law enforcement in counter-drug trafficking operations. The Minneapolis-Saint Paul's crew includes an embarked Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment plus the 'Valkyries' of Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 50 Detachment 3. The U.S. Navy regularly partners with LEDET teams to prevent illegal drugs from reaching the United States through maritime routes. Drug interdictions in the Caribbean are executed by the Coast Guard under the authority of the Seventh Coast Guard District based in Miami. 'The USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul executed their duties seamlessly in the combined effort to protect the homeland from illicit maritime trafficking,' Rear Adm. Carlos Sardiello, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command/U.S. 4th Fleet, said in the release. 'Working in coordination with the Coast Guard and our joint partners, we look forward to seeing continued measurable impact delivered by the professional and talented crew of the USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul across the region.'
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Yahoo
USS Minneapolis-St. Paul makes several drug busts in Caribbean Sea
The Brief The USS Minneapolis-St. Paul made multiple alleged drug busts in the Caribbean Sea within a 72-hour span. Almost 1,500 pounds of cocaine, worth nearly $10 million, were confiscated during the bust. About 2,500 pounds of marijuana, worth almost $3 million, were also confiscated. CARIBBEAN SEA (FOX 9) - The USS Minneapolis-St. Paul stopped two drug smuggling operations within a 72-hour span in the Caribbean Sea. What we know According to the U.S. Fleet Forces Command, the USS Minneapolis-St. Paul made two alleged drug busts in the Caribbean Sea, both within 72 hours. The vessels smuggling the drugs were taken out by a combination of air and surface operations, officials said. By the numbers In the busts, 1,278.9 pounds of cocaine, worth $9,463,860, and 2,480 pounds of marijuana, worth $2,807,360, were confiscated. What they're saying This was the USS Minneapolis-St. Paul was on her maiden deployment during the busts. "We train diligently and stand ready to execute interdiction missions at moment's notice, said Minneapolis-Saint Paul commanding officer Cmdr. Steven Fresse, "To be able to make an immediate impact so early on during our maiden deployment is a testament to the hard work and skills of the ship's crew." "The USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul executed their duties seamlessly in the combined effort to protect the homeland from illicit maritime trafficking." said Rear Adm. Carlos Sardiello, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command/U.S. 4th Fleet. "Working in coordination with the Coast Guard and our joint partners, we look forward to seeing continued measurable impact delivered by the professional and talented crew of the USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul across the region." The Source This report was written from a press release from the U.S. Fleet Forces Command.
