U.S. Adds Advanced Guided-Missile Cruiser to Forces in the Caribbean Even as Trump Expresses Reservations About Striking Venezuela

The United States has expanded its naval presence in the Caribbean with the deployment of the USS Gettysburg, a Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser, even as reports show President Donald Trump has signaled caution about authorizing strikes on Venezuelan soil.

The U.S. Navy said the ship, which departed from San Juan, Puerto Rico, has a mission to "ensure stability, deter threats, and strengthen interoperability with naval forces across the Western Hemisphere."

The Gettysburg, launched in 1989 and commissioned in 1991, is considered one of the Navy's most technologically sophisticated surface combatants. It carries advanced Aegis radar and vertical-launch missile systems configured for anti-air, surface, and anti-submarine warfare.

At full complement, it operates with roughly 500 personnel. The ship recently completed a multiyear modernization effort that upgraded combat, weapons, and navigation suites.

Former U.S. military intelligence officer Stephen Donahoo told NTN24 on Thursday that the deployment is intended to pressure Maduro, calling it "a demonstration of force sufficiently large for Mr. Maduro and his team to consider their options. The option to leave power and go elsewhere, or, if not, they are going to be attacked."

The USS Gerald R. Ford, which is the largest aircraft carrier in the world and was recently announced for the same deployment, remains in waters west of Morocco after transiting the Strait of Gibraltar en route to the Caribbean earlier this week, as TWZ reports.

Its movement is uncertain following reports that the Trump administration has informed Congress it is holding off on land strikes inside Venezuela due to questions about legal authority. Lawmakers were told that authorizations guiding actions against suspected drug boats did not apply to strikes on Venezuelan territory.

U.S. ships began arriving in the Caribbean in late August. The expanded mission now includes more than eight surface vessels, a special operations support ship, a fast-attack submarine, MQ-9 drones, F-35B aircraft, AC-130 gunships, and more than 10,000 U.S. personnel. The amphibious transport dock ship USS Fort Lauderdale has also returned to the region after maintenance in Florida.