8 February 2001 saw "Sheffield", under Commander Simon Williams, deployed to the Caribbean for a six-month deployment. "Sheffield" was deployed to assist the United States Coast Guard, Dutch, French and Venezuelan navies in anti-drug operations and exercises. There were visits to the USA as well as Barbados, Trinidad, Antigua, St Lucia, Curaçao and the Bahamas. "Sheffield" took part in Exercise Tradewinds, which promoted interoperability between coastguards and law enforcement agencies in the area. Other ships in the exercise included and RFA "Gold Rover".