USS Arlington (LPD-24)

For other ships with the same name, see USS Arlington.

USS Arlington (LPD-24), a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock, is the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for Arlington County, Virginia, the location of the Pentagon and the crash site of American Airlines Flight 77 during the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001. Like her sister ships, USS New York and Somerset, she is named in commemoration of the attacks.^[4] Steel taken from the Pentagon after the attacks is displayed aboard in the ship's museum.^[5]

USS Arlington (LPD-24)

USS Arlington in August 2013
History
United States
Name	Arlington
Namesake	Arlington County
Awarded	6 November 2006[1]
Builder	Ingalls Shipbuilding
Laid down	26 May 2008[1]
Launched	23 November 2010[2]
Sponsored by	Mrs. Joyce Rumsfeld
Christened	26 March 2011[3]
Commissioned	8 February 2013
Homeport	Norfolk
Identification	MMSI number: 369970719 Callsign: NARL Pennant number: LPD-24
Status	In active service, as of 2015
Badge
General characteristics
Class & type	San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock
Displacement	24,900 short tons (22,600 t) full
Length	684 ft (208 m) overall, 661 ft (201 m) waterline[1]
Beam	105 ft (32 m) extreme, 97 ft (30 m) waterline[1]
Draft	23 ft (7.0 m)[1]
Propulsion	Four sequentially turbocharged Colt-Pielstick diesel engines, two shafts, 40,000 hp (30 MW)
Speed	22 knots (41 km/h)
Boats & landing craft carried	Two LCACs or one LCU
Capacity	699 (66 officers, 633 enlisted); surge to 800 total; 14 Expeditionary Force vehicles
Complement	32 officers, 332 enlisted[1]
Armament	Two 30 mm Mk44 Bushmaster II close-in guns two RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile launchers
Aircraft carried	Four CH-53E Super Stallion heavy lift helicopters may be launched or recovered simultaneously.

Construction

Arlington's keel was laid down on 26 May 2008, at Northrop Grumman's Ingalls shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi. Builder's Trials of the ship started on 21 August 2012. These were completed on 30 August 2012.^[6] She completed Navy acceptance sea trials on 2 November 2012.^[7] The US Navy formally accepted the ship on 7 December 2012.^{[citation needed]} Arlington arrived at her homeport of Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia on 22 March 2013 in preparation for commissioning.^[8] Officially, she was commissioned on 8 February 2013, but her ceremonial commissioning occurred on 6 April 2013 at Naval Station Norfolk.^[9] Originally scheduled as the third ship of the San Antonio class, she was the eighth to be commissioned. Mrs. Joyce Rumsfeld, wife of former United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, is the ship's sponsor.^[10]

Operational history

The Orion spacecraft in Arlington's well deck.

In August 2013, Arlington conducted trials with NASA's Orion spacecraft.^[11]

In October 2015, Arlington embarked upon her maiden deployment to the 5th and 6th Fleet Areas of Responsibility as part of the USS Kearsarge (LHD-3) Amphibious Ready Group, along with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit. During the deployment, Arlington transited 36,740 nautical miles and conducted port visits in Lisbon, Portugal, Souda Bay, Greece, Eilat, Israel, Aqaba, Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Abu Dhabi, U.A.E. and Marseille, France.^[4]

Arlington provided assistance to a disabled vessel while transiting the Gulf of Aden 23rd December, 2015.^[12] Embarked personnel included the Marines with Combat Logistics Battalion 26, Fox Company and Echo Battery, Battalion Landing Team 2/6, 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (26th MEU).^[13] In March 2016 Battery E, 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 26th MEU disembarked Arlington to provide counter battery support during Operation Inherent Resolve.^[14][15][16]

In May 2019 she was deployed to the Persian Gulf due to reported concerns about Iranian activities.^[17] In April 2022 Arlington was deployed to Icelandic waters to take part in the NATO exercise Northern Viking 2022.^[18]