CHRISTIANSTED, St. Croix — A vessel that has been described as a special operations mothership is currently deployed to the Caribbean, Task & Purpose has confirmed.
A Military Sealift Command spokesperson confirmed to Task & Purpose that the MV Ocean Trader is currently operating in the Caribbean. The official deferred questions about its mission to U.S. Special Operations Command, which declined to comment.
However, The Enforcer website directly identified the U.S. Virgin Islands as the current location for the MV Ocean Trader.
Naval experts told Task & Purpose that the U.S. has a history of using commercial ships like the MV Ocean Trader as part of special operations missions. U.S. military officials have not said publicly exactly what the ship’s current mission in the Caribbean islands.
Formerly named the MV Cragside, the transformation of the MV Ocean Trader from a commercial roll-on/roll-off cargo ship to a vessel fit for special operations missions has been tracked through rigorous reporting from The War Zone. Over the years, the publication has followed the ship’s movements from port calls in Seychelles and a dry dock in Oman.
“The ship is intended to blend in with merchant traffic, whereas obviously a destroyer shows someplace or an [amphibious ship], something like this might not attract as much attention,” said retired Navy Capt. Bradley Martin, a senior policy researcher at the RAND Corporation and a retired surface warfare captain of 30 years with four command tours.
The ship is built to carry up to 159 special operations forces plus its crew of 50 for up to 45 days at sea before having to refuel and be resupplied at sea or return to port, said retired Navy Capt. Brent Sadler, of the Heritage Foundation think tank in Washington, D.C.
“If the ship is in the Caribbean and hosting special forces, it is clearly supporting the operation to interdict the Cartel drug boats,” Sadler told Task & Purpose on Thursday. “The limited endurance of the ship, however, would mean there are likely other vessels rotating to replace it in time.”
The MV Ocean Trader has also been on contract with the military before it was converted from commercial use for its current role, Sadler said.
The MV Ocean Trader’s main role is to serve as both barracks and command center for special operations forces, said Michael Fabey, a naval analyst with Janes, an open-source defense intelligence provider.
Roll-on/roll-off ships are designed to unload cargo in austere environments, and they are a common sight in Central and Latin America, Fabey told Task & Purpose. Its color scheme is similar to commercial ships, making it hard to distinguish from merchant vessels at a distance, he said.
The practice of using commercial vessels for military operations goes back to World War II and was “not uncommon” for the U.S. to use them as staging bases for special operations during the Global War on Terror Operations, Martin said.
The vessel is able to launch zodiacs and other boats that could be used for counter-narcotics missions along with intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, Fabey said.
“What this capability allows a force to do is embark, stay fairly low key, but still be able to deliver [special operations] capabilities effectively,” Martin said.
The cargo ship-turned special warfare asset was spotted by an open-source intelligence researcher who analyzed satellite imagery from Sept. 20 of a vessel resembling the MV Ocean Trader operating off the southwest end of St. Kitts in the Caribbean. Another Reddit user appears to have posted a photo of the Ocean Trader outside their window on St. Croix, in the Virgin Islands.
The ship’s traversing through Caribbean waters comes amid a greater build up of U.S. military assets in the region since August, including a host of Navy ships.
So far this month, the U.S. military has destroyed three boats in the Caribbean, which President Trump has said were being used to smuggle drugs, killing a total of 17 people.
Most recently, the destroyer USS Stockdale arrived in the region to join seven other warships: the destroyers USS Jason Dunham and USS Gravely; the cruiser USS Lake Erie; the Littoral Combat Ship USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul; and the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group, which consists of the assault ship USS Iwo Jima and the amphibious transport docks USS San Antonio and USS Fort Lauderdale. About 2,200 Marines with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit are embarked on the amphibious ready group’s three ships.
The Iwo Jima can carry AV-8B Harriers and other aircraft. Additionally, the U.S. military has deployed Marine Corps F-35 Lightning II aircraft to Puerto Rico.
And in August, Air Force special operations troops were practicing airfield seizures in the Caribbean as part of an annual exercise. An unnamed Air Force Special Operations Command officer said in a release that the Caribbean operations “simulate many of the geographical features our forces may encounter when deployed around the globe.”
On at least two occasions, Venezuelan F-16s have flown close to the Jason Dunham. After the first incident, President Donald Trump said that U.S. military commanders have leeway in responding to Venezuelan military aircraft, adding, “If they do put us in a dangerous position, they’ll be shot down.”
The Venezuelan government has also accused U.S. service members from the Jason Dunham of stopping a fishing boat within its declared exclusive economic zone and searching the crew for several hours before releasing them. An unnamed U.S. official told ABC News that the search took place in international waters and no drugs were found.
By JEFF SCHOGOL and PATTY NIEBERG/Task & Purpose
