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Tomahawk-Armed U.S. Navy Destroyer and Guided-Missile Cruiser Operate Close to Venezuela’s Coast.
On 13 November 2025, open source ship trackers located the destroyer USS Stockdale (DDG 106) and cruiser USS Gettysburg (CG 64) less than 50 km off Venezuela, inside the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone but outside its territorial waters. Their patrol comes on the same day Washington formally launched Operation Southern Spear, putting long-range Tomahawk shooters within easy strike distance of Caracas and key Venezuelan military infrastructure.
On 13 November 2025, multiple open-source naval trackers reported the US Navy destroyer USS Stockdale (DDG-106) and the guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg (CG-64) operating less than fifty kilometres off the Venezuelan coast. According to naval OSINT accounts on social media and ship-tracking websites that function for maritime traffic much like Flightradar24 does for aviation, both warships were plotted within Venezuela’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) but outside its territorial waters. Their presence coincides with the announcement by the United States of the start of the “Southern Spear” mission and the deployment of additional forces in the Caribbean to combat narco-terrorist and transnational criminal networks. Given their Tomahawk cruise-missile capability and their proximity to Caracas and key coastal infrastructure, the deployment is operationally significant and has immediate geopolitical, geostrategic and military implications.
A Tomahawk‑armed U.S. Navy destroyer, USS Stockdale, and the guided‑missile cruiser USS Gettysburg are operating close to Venezuela’s coast, conducting maritime security and surveillance to deter threats and monitor regional activity (Picture Source: U.S. Navy)
The current disposition of USS Stockdale and USS Gettysburg places them in a sensitive maritime corridor off the Venezuelan mainland. OSINT plots describe the two ships sailing in formation from west to east, skirting the islands of Aruba and Curaçao before stabilising roughly fifty kilometres off the coast of Falcón and less than fifty nautical miles from La Guaira. At various points, their positions have been recorded around ninety-six kilometres from Caraballeda in Vargas state and approximately thirty-nine kilometres south-east of the Los Roques archipelago. Both vessels have been tracked at speeds in the region of 16–17 knots, consistent with a controlled transit into a pre-planned operating box rather than a simple passage through the area. While they remain in international waters, their operation inside Venezuela’s EEZ means that large parts of the country’s northern littoral, including the wider Caracas area and several military installations, lie within practical Tomahawk striking distance. In such a configuration, the ships are not merely conducting presence operations; they are positioned so that, if political authorities in Washington were to issue the order, they could rapidly transition from surveillance and deterrence to precision strike.
At the centre of this posture is USS Gettysburg, a Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser designed to function as both an air-defence flagship and a long-range strike platform. Equipped with the Aegis combat system and a high-capacity vertical launch system, Gettysburg can carry a mix of surface-to-air missiles, anti-submarine weapons and Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles. From waters north of Venezuela, Tomahawk missiles launched by the cruiser could reach a wide set of fixed targets across northern Venezuela, including air-defence radar sites, coastal surveillance facilities, command-and-control nodes and infrastructure alleged by US authorities to be linked to narcotics trafficking. The combination of long range, precision guidance and the ability to fire multiple missiles in a coordinated salvo makes Gettysburg a key asset for any initial phase of a potential operation, whether limited to specific “narco” targets or extended to elements of the Venezuelan integrated air-defence system. At the same time, its sensor suite and command facilities allow the cruiser to coordinate air-defence coverage and maritime situational awareness for other US units deployed in the Caribbean under Southern Spear, including any nearby carrier or amphibious groups.
USS Stockdale, an Arleigh Burke-class Flight IIA destroyer, complements the cruiser by adding both further Tomahawk capacity and a robust protective shield around the force. As an Aegis-equipped multi-role combatant, Stockdale integrates anti-air, anti-surface and anti-submarine capabilities in a single platform and fields its own bank of vertical launch cells capable of firing Tomahawk land-attack missiles. In practice, this means that Stockdale can contribute to a combined strike package against selected targets ashore while simultaneously providing layered air-defence coverage for Gettysburg and for other high-value units in the area. This dual role is particularly important in a constrained maritime space off Venezuela, where any crisis would likely involve not only the management of air and missile threats, but also the need to maintain continuous surveillance of coastal activity, military aviation and potential asymmetric actors at sea. Together, the cruiser and the destroyer form a compact but highly capable surface strike group with the capacity to deliver a significant number of Tomahawk missiles in a very short time window, compressing the decision and reaction time available to Venezuelan authorities in the event of escalation.
The deployment takes place against the backdrop of the “Southern Spear” mission, under which the United States has framed its current build-up in the Caribbean as part of a broader effort to dismantle narco-terrorist and transnational criminal networks in the region. Official communication has so far focused on maritime interdiction operations and the neutralisation of drug-carrying vessels, but the choice to position Tomahawk-armed warships within Venezuela’s EEZ suggests that Washington wishes to preserve a wider spectrum of military options. One scenario, frequently discussed, would see cruise-missile strikes directed against specific sites designated as supporting narcotics trafficking or providing protection to those networks, such as airstrips, storage facilities or communications hubs. Another, more expansive option would involve degrading elements of Venezuela’s air-defence and command structure to ensure freedom of action for any follow-on air or maritime operations.
From a geopolitical and geostrategic perspective, the presence of Gettysburg and Stockdale so close to Venezuelan shores constitutes a dense signal to multiple audiences. For Caracas, it underlines that key political and military centres of gravity lie within reach of US sea-based precision weapons, even without overflight by manned aircraft. This reality complicates Venezuelan defence planning, as it must take into account the possibility of low-warning cruise-missile attacks originating from the sea, flying at low altitude and targeting critical nodes across a wide area. For neighbouring states, the deployment illustrates both the benefits and the risks of hosting or facilitating US operations: it reinforces US security commitments against criminal networks, but it also brings major naval assets and potential conflict dynamics closer to their own waters. For external powers that have cultivated ties with Caracas, the operation is a reminder that the United States retains the capability to concentrate high-end naval forces in the Caribbean while simultaneously maintaining commitments in other theatres. Militarily, operating within the EEZ but beyond territorial waters allows Washington to combine legal freedom of navigation with a posture of overt pressure, keeping escalation under political control while making clear that the conditions for rapid action already exist.
The net result is that the simultaneous presence of USS Gettysburg and USS Stockdale off Venezuela is both a concrete operational posture and a strategic message. Two Tomahawk-capable surface combatants, positioned less than fifty kilometres from the coast and monitored in real time by naval OSINT networks, provide the United States with a credible ability to launch precision strikes against selected targets inside Venezuela with minimal notice. At the same time, their deployment under the banner of Southern Spear is intended to signal to Caracas, to regional partners and to outside actors that Washington is prepared to use sea-based power to shape the security environment in the Caribbean, while still operating within the legal framework of international waters. Whether these ships remain instruments of deterrence and coercive diplomacy or become active participants in a military operation will depend on political decisions that have not yet been made public. What is clear, however, is that their current position, capabilities and mission context have already altered the strategic balance along Venezuela’s northern coastline and will continue to influence calculations on all sides as the situation evolves.
Written by Teoman S. Nicanci – Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group
Teoman S. Nicanci holds degrees in Political Science, Comparative and International Politics, and International Relations and Diplomacy from leading Belgian universities, with research focused on Russian strategic behavior, defense technology, and modern warfare. He is a defense analyst at Army Recognition, specializing in the global defense industry, military armament, and emerging defense technologies.