Once maligned as one of the Navy’s greatest missteps, the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) is carving out a new, unexpected role on the high seas—hunting down drug smugglers with remarkable success.
The USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul, a Freedom-variant LCS, recently proved just how effective these ships can be. Within a span of just 72 hours, the vessel stopped two suspected smuggling operations in the Caribbean, seizing nearly 1,279 pounds of cocaine valued at roughly $9.5 million and 2,480 pounds of marijuana worth approximately $2.8 million, according to an April 17 Navy release.
The operations combined the efforts of the ship’s Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment and Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 50, Detachment Three, showcasing the LCS’s strengths in rapid, multi-domain interdictions.
This is not an isolated success. In recent years, LCS ships have notched impressive victories against drug traffickers. In 2020, the USS Gabrielle Giffords intercepted a vessel carrying $106 million worth of cocaine. In 2021, the USS Wichita and USS Sioux City captured millions more in narcotics while patrolling the Caribbean. These missions underscore a surprising truth: while the LCS may not have lived up to its original ambitions as a high-end warfighting platform, it has found its place as an agile, cost-effective counternarcotics asset.
Originally plagued by design flaws—especially in the Freedom-variant’s propulsion systems—the LCS became a punchline within military circles. So poorly regarded was the class that former Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Michael Gilday once suggested the Navy simply hand the ships off to other nations that could put them to better use. Some, like the USS Sioux City, were even decommissioned after a shockingly short five years of service.
But in the world of counternarcotics operations, the LCS’s supposed weaknesses become unexpected strengths. Smaller, faster, and equipped with helicopters and surface-search radars, the LCS is nearly tailor-made for chasing down drug runners’ go-fast boats and crude submersibles, according to Brian Persons, a former senior Naval Sea Systems Command engineer and RAND Corporation management scientist.
Deploying a massive destroyer or cruiser to hunt speedboats would be costly and impractical. The LCS, with its lighter armament and speed-focused design, offers a far more efficient solution. And while its missile systems are unlikely to be used in counternarcotics missions due to costs, its radar, aviation capabilities, and boarding teams make it highly effective for interdiction efforts.
Still, experts caution against complacency. As James Holmes of the U.S. Naval War College notes, naval warfare is becoming increasingly accessible. Ukraine’s successful use of shore-launched missiles against Russian warships and Houthi rebel drone threats in the Red Sea demonstrate how low-cost technology can reshape the battlefield. Though drug cartels have not yet fielded advanced naval weaponry, it is not beyond reason to expect them to evolve their tactics and capabilities.
The LCS has found a second life patrolling the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, successfully seizing millions in narcotics and crippling cartel operations. But as Holmes warns, the ships are lightly armored, and the day may come when the threats they face become more dangerous than a speedboat packed with drugs.
