Over a dozen U.S. warships—among them the nation’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald F. Ford—have moved into the Caribbean as tensions rise between President Trump and Venezuela. A Marine Expeditionary Unit that could launch an amphibious assault is also in the area, part of a broader push to curb drug smuggling from the socialist country into the United States.
The Secretary of the Navy, John Phelan, said to Fox News on Saturday night that “the military’s job is to defend the homeland.” He added that the armed forces are using their best assets to do just that and emphasized that “drugs kill more Americans than we’ve ever lost in wars.” He concluded that the president rightly sees this as an attack on the nation.
In addition to the Ford, the group includes the amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima, which carries six Harrier II fighters, and the guided‑missile destroyers USS Gravely and USS Stockdale. Two guided‑missile cruisers—the USS Lake Erie and the USS Gettysburg—are also underway in the region.
Up to 2,200 Marines, deployed from Camp Lejeune and Marine Corps Air Base New River in North Carolina, are stationed in the Caribbean. Together with the maritime forces, approximately 15,000 U.S. troops—including about 5,000 personnel at bases in Puerto Rico—have been positioned in the area, according to a report by The Conversation. The Roosevelt Roads naval base in Puerto Rico has been reopened as part of this buildup.
The firepower surge supports President Trump’s Operation Southern Spear, which relies on the Coast Guard and Department of Homeland Security to intercept narcotics headed northward. It also dovetails with initiatives to modernize the military with AI, unmanned systems, and hypersonic missiles, while the president pushes for a revival of domestic shipbuilding.
On “My View with Lara Trump,” Phelan noted that the president is “very focused on shipbuilding. He has been on me about it for a long time and continues to stay after me, which is great, because he’s committed to it and it’s really important.” He added that the United States has lost many manufacturing jobs over the past decade and that, while we have spent the last ten years training people to code, “we’re gonna spend the next ten years teaching [people] how to use their hands, because those are going to be the important skills.”
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