07.28.2026
« Return to News#2 — Chasing the Shadow Fleet: Operation Southern Spear
By Donnie Brzuska, Coast Guard Mutual Assistance
It begins with a helicopter.
Not a warning shot. Not a radio call.
A helicopter.
As its rotors churn the air above a moving tanker, a team descends onto the deck below. Within moments, the bridge is secured, the crew is under control and another vessel operating outside international norms has been brought under U.S. authority.
To most viewers, it looks like a military special operations mission.
In many ways, it is.
But it’s also uniquely Coast Guard.
A Different Kind of Boarding
Throughout January 2026, the United States conducted a series of high-profile maritime interdictions against tankers operating in the Caribbean. Working alongside the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps, Coast Guard personnel helped board and secure multiple vessels during pre-dawn operations that unfolded hundreds of miles from shore as part of Operation Southern Spear.
The videos are striking.
Helicopters hover over massive commercial ships. Boarding teams fast-rope onto steel decks. Within minutes, vessels measuring hundreds of feet long are under control without a shot being fired.
What isn’t immediately obvious is the combination of authorities, training and partnerships required to make a mission like this possible.
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America’s Maritime Specialists
Unlike the other armed services, the Coast Guard carries both military responsibilities and federal law enforcement authority.
That unique combination allows Coast Guardsmen to enforce U.S. and international maritime law while operating alongside the Department of Defense around the world.
For the Coast Guard, these missions often fall to Deployable Specialized Forces: elite units organized, trained and equipped for high-risk maritime security operations that extend well beyond traditional search and rescue or routine law enforcement.
Among those units are the Maritime Security Response Teams (MSRT), located in Chesapeake, Virginia, and San Diego, California. Their capabilities include helicopter insertion, opposed boardings, close-quarters combat, precision marksmanship and counterterrorism operations. They routinely train with the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps and other federal partners for some of the most demanding maritime missions imaginable.
The Coast Guard also maintains Tactical Law Enforcement Teams (TACLETs), expeditionary boarding teams that deploy aboard U.S. and allied naval vessels around the world to conduct maritime interdiction, counter-drug operations and other high-risk law enforcement missions far from U.S. shores.
A Team Effort
The January interdictions were never about one service acting alone.
The U.S. Navy provided the reach, delivering boarding teams by helicopter from ships operating across the Caribbean.
The U.S. Marine Corps contributed expertise developed through years of training in vertical assault, opposed boardings and expeditionary maritime operations.
The Coast Guard brought something no other military service possesses: maritime law enforcement authority, specialized boarding expertise and decades of experience conducting complex vessel interdictions at sea.
Together, those capabilities created a force capable of boarding large commercial vessels quickly, safely and with remarkable precision.
The Team You Never See
Public releases surrounding the January operations did not identify which Coast Guard specialized unit conducted the boardings.
That isn’t unusual.
The Coast Guard rarely publicizes the specific tactical units involved in sensitive maritime security operations.
Whether the boarding teams came from a Maritime Security Response Team, a Tactical Law Enforcement Team or another specialized element has never been officially confirmed.
What is known is that the Coast Guard maintains specialized forces specifically organized, equipped and trained for missions like these—working alongside the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps to project American maritime law enforcement far beyond U.S. shores.
It is a reminder that the Coast Guard is, and always will be, a vital part of the United States Armed Forces. To punish or to save, the Coast Guard remains Semper Paratus—Always Ready.
Watch Video #2
Watch Shadow Fleet and see how Coast Guard personnel, alongside the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps, executed one of the year’s most remarkable maritime interdiction operations.
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Photo & Video Credits
Featured video courtesy of the U.S. Southern Command and the U.S. Coast Guard via DVIDS. Additional imagery provided by the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps in support of Operation Southern Spear.