The cruiser USS Leyte Gulf has seized a number of tonnes of cocaine throughout a patrol within the Atlantic, in response to Navy officers.

In March, because the cruiser was beneath method within the Atlantic Ocean – not the Pacific or the Caribbean, the standard hotspots for U.S. maritime drug busts – the crew noticed a semisubmersible smuggling boat. The Leyte Gulf’s helicopter aircrew assisted in monitoring the boat, and Leyte Gulf’s embarked Coast Guard boarding staff launched a RIB to intercept the vessel. 

The Coast Guard staff detained the crew of the suspect boat and confiscated about 2,370 kilos of cocaine. Following the seizure, the Leyte Gulf’s crew used the semisubmersible as a goal for live-fire coaching (a “sinking exercise”). 

Lt. Commander Travis Lee, the senior aviator aboard the Leyte Gulf, famous the problem in recognizing semisub smuggling boats, evaluating it to “finding a needle in the haystack.” He added that in his seven years of service, this was the primary time he had efficiently discovered an analogous goal. 

The March interdiction is simply the latest achievement for the USS Leyte Gulf. In February, whereas patrolling the Caribbean Sea, the ship intercepted three separate vessels in joint actions with the Navy’s companions. The Coast Guard staff on Leyte Gulf noticed all three intercepts by way of to their conclusion. The ship recovered 520 kilograms of cocaine on February 6, 600 kilograms on February 15 and one other 600 kilos on February 28. 

“It was an exciting day to be the Officer of the Deck running the bridge for one of our interdiction operations,” mentioned Lt. j.g. Jayden Hodgson, an officer of the deck and public affairs officer aboard the ship. “Leyte Gulf prevented the illicit importation of drugs that day and we are only getting started.”