USS Gridley Returns After Seven-Month Deployment Escorting Nimitz and Patrolling for Southern Spear

The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Gridley (DDG 101) returned to Naval Station Everett, Washington, on October 9, 2026, after a seven-month deployment to the U.S. 4th Fleet area of operations that combined carrier escort duty during Southern Seas 2026 with counter-narcotics patrols under Operation Southern Spear.

Gridley departed Everett on March 9, 2026, with the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68), which was leaving the Pacific Northwest for the last time. The Navy routed the carrier’s homeport shift to Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, around South America, turning the transfer into the 11th iteration of Southern Seas since 2007. Nimitz reached Norfolk on July 9. Gridley remained deployed, shifting from escort duty to counter-narcotics tasking.

USS Gridley Deployment Alongside Nimitz During Southern Seas 2026

Gridley escorted Nimitz during portions of the carrier’s final transit around South America as the strike group pursued engagement objectives with regional navies. The two ships passed through the Strait of Magellan, which the Navy describes as the first transit of the strait by a U.S. warship in two years. The destroyer then oversaw the carrier’s transition into the U.S. 2nd Fleet area of operations.

Port visits took Gridley to Panama, Chile, Brazil, Ecuador, and Puerto Rico. Ashore, crew members joined community relations projects with regional partners and host navies. The ship also completed its first Panama Canal transit since its commissioning in 2007.

Publicly available specifications indicate Gridley is a Flight IIA ship built by Bath Iron Works, measuring about 155 meters (509 feet) and displacing roughly 9,200 tons at full load. Four General Electric LM2500 gas turbines drive two shafts for speeds above 30 knots, and the Aegis combat system, built around the AN/SPY-1D(V) radar, manages 96 Mk 41 Vertical Launching System cells. For this mission, the decisive Flight IIA feature was the twin aviation hangar absent from earlier Flight I and II ships. It allowed Gridley to embark a detachment from Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 73, which open sources indicate flies the MH-60R Seahawk, extending the ship’s surface search well beyond its radar horizon.

Counter-Narcotics Patrols Under Operation Southern Spear

After the carrier hand-off, Gridley operated under the direction of Joint Task Force-Western Hemisphere as part of Operation Southern Spear, which targets narcotics trafficking and distribution in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth formally announced the operation on November 13, 2025, adopting the name of a Navy campaign launched earlier that year to field robotic and autonomous systems for monitoring illicit maritime traffic.

According to the Navy, Gridley sailed approximately 90,000 nautical miles, conducted more than 50 special evolutions, executed one maritime counter-narcotics interdiction, and engaged with 18 allied navies and partner nations across the Caribbean, Central America, and South America. The HSM-73 detachment logged nearly 490 flight hours supporting regional counter-narcotics efforts, and during Southern Seas 2026 the ship conducted joint helicopter operations with three allied navies. The Navy did not disclose where the interdiction took place, what was seized, or which navies joined the helicopter operations.

“Their efforts were vital to advancing bilateral relationships with 18 nations in South America,” said Cmdr. Magdalena Keel, Gridley’s commanding officer, who described the mission as a surge deployment. “Through forward presence and demonstrated warfighting readiness, they were vital to countering designated terrorist organizations.”

Analysis: Nearly 490 helicopter hours produced one publicly reported interdiction, a ratio that points to a detection and monitoring role rather than seizure work, which typically relies on embarked Coast Guard law enforcement detachments. The reference to designated terrorist organizations also places Gridley’s patrols inside the administration’s framing of cartels as terrorist targets. Each Pacific Fleet destroyer surged south is a hull withdrawn from the 3rd Fleet readiness pipeline that feeds Western Pacific deployments.

Gridley now returns to U.S. 3rd Fleet, where post-deployment maintenance and training typically follow. The Navy has not said whether additional 3rd Fleet destroyers will rotate into Southern Spear, nor how it will sustain surface presence in the theater as Nimitz, whose service life has been extended into 2027, approaches inactivation.