The guided-missile destroyer USS Chung-Hoon (DDG 93) interdicted a shipment of narcotics aboard a stateless vessel while performing maritime security operations in the international waters of the Gulf of Aden, on December 27.
Chung-Hoon’s visit, board, search and seizure (VBSS) team seized over 11,000 pounds of hashish while conducting a flag verification boarding. A flag verification boarding concluded that the ship was stateless, while its crew were allowed to depart once the narcotics were seized.
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Chung-Hoon is one of the many ships currently conducting maritime security operations in the US 5th Fleet. Maritime security operations include routine patrols to determine pattern of life in the maritime as well as improve mariner-to-mariner relations.
These relationships enable the US Navy to disrupt the transport of illicit cargo that often funds terrorism and unlawful activities, and ensures law-abiding mariners in the region.
Chung-Hoon is deployed to the US 5th Fleet area of operations in support of naval operations to ensure maritime stability and security in the Central Region, connecting the Mediterranean and the Pacific through the western Indian Ocean and three strategic choke points.
The US 5th Fleet area of operations incorporated almost 2.5 million square miles of water area and includes the Arabian Gulf, Gulf of Oman, Red Sea and parts of the Indian Ocean. The region is comprised of 20 countries and includes three critical choke points at the Strait of Hormuz, the Suez Canal and the Strait of Bab-al-Mandeb at the southern tip of Yemen.
