erh says
"P.S. - Regarding US Naval Vessels that perform "Boardings"; they are almost certainly "Flying a USCG Ensign" (Flag..) at the highest point on the highest mast, and have at least 1 "Coastie" boarding officer on the boarding crew. This is (at least used to be..) the way to avoid Laws against US Military Forces performing Civilian Law Enforcement, etc... Makes the USN vessel "Officially/ Temporarily" a USCG Vessel & crew. I DON"T know if this even applies anymore, truth be known..! So this all MAY be a "Once Upon A Time sorta thing anyway!"
Negative. USN vessels perform boardings all the time...Although the Naval base at Manama, Bahrain maintains several of those little Coastie boats whose main job it is to intercept gun/drug/people runners. ANYWAY. Destroyers, Cruisers, and Frigates are the ships most likely to provide some VBSS (that's Visit, Board, Search, and Siezure) personnel to suspicious looking boats. I'd love to be on a VBSS team but my ship doesn't maintain one (rats). You all may have heard about the Navy capturing a pirate vessel a few weeks ago; the catch was made by a USN destroyer (though I confess i can't remember which one).