USS ''Arlington'' (LPD-24), a , is the third ship of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

to be named for

Arlington County Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, the location of

the Pentagon The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense. It was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As a symbol of the U.S. military, the phrase ''The Pentagon'' is often used as a meton ...

and the crash site of American Airlines Flight 77 during the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001. Like her sister ships, and , she is named in commemoration of the attacks. Steel taken from the Pentagon after the attacks is displayed aboard in the ship's museum.

Construction

''Arlington''s

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...

was laid down on 26 May 2008, at

Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense technology company. With 90,000 employees and an annual revenue in excess of $30 billion, it is one of the world's largest weapons manufacturers and military techn ...

's Ingalls shipyard in

Pascagoula, Mississippi Pascagoula ( ) is a city in Jackson County, Mississippi, United States. It is the principal city of the Pascagoula Metropolitan Statistical Area, and is part of the Gulfport– Biloxi–Pascagoula Combined Statistical Area. The population was 2 ...

. Builder's Trials of the ship started on 21 August 2012. These were completed on 30 August 2012. She completed Navy acceptance sea trials on 2 November 2012. The US Navy formally accepted the ship on 7 December 2012. ''Arlington'' arrived at her homeport of

Naval Station Norfolk Naval Station Norfolk is a United States Navy base in Norfolk, Virginia, that is the headquarters and home port of the U.S. Navy's Fleet Forces Command. The installation occupies about of waterfront space and of pier and wharf space of the Hampt ...

, Virginia on 22 March 2013 in preparation for commissioning.U.S. Navy photo 130322-N-WA189-070 Officially, she was commissioned on 8 February 2013, but her ceremonial commissioning occurred on 6 April 2013 at Naval Station Norfolk. 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 The United States secretary of defense (SecDef) is the head of the United States Department of Defense, the executive department of the U.S. Armed Forces, and is a high ranking member of the federal cabinet. DoDD 5100.1: Enclosure 2: a The ...

Donald Rumsfeld, is the ship's sponsor.

Operational history

In August 2013, ''Arlington'' conducted trials with NASA's

Orion spacecraft Orion (officially Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle or Orion MPCV) is a partially reusable crewed spacecraft used in NASA's Artemis program. The spacecraft consists of a Crew Module (CM) space capsule designed by Lockheed Martin and the Euro ...

. In October 2015, ''Arlington'' embarked upon her maiden deployment to the 5th and 6th Fleet Areas of Responsibility as part of the 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 Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administrative limits w ...

, Souda Bay, Greece, Eilate, Israel,

Aqaba, Jordan Aqaba (, also ; ar, العقبة, al-ʿAqaba, al-ʿAgaba, ) is the only coastal city in Jordan and the largest and most populous city on the Gulf of Aqaba. Situated in southernmost Jordan, Aqaba is the administrative centre of the Aqaba Govern ...

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

, Abu Dhabi, U.A.E. and

Marseille, France Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fran ...

. According to the ''Kearsarge''

Amphibious Ready Group An amphibious ready group (ARG) of the United States Navy consists of a naval element—a group of warships known as an Amphibious Task Force (ATF)—and a landing force (LF) of U.S. Marines (and occasionally U.S. Army soldiers), in total about ...

26th Marine Expeditionary Unit The 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (26th MEU) is one of seven such units currently in existence in the United States Marine Corps. It is an air-ground task force with a strength of about 2,400 personnel when at full strength during a deployment. ...

's post-deployment brief (UNCLASS), activities included Maritime Security Operations & MSO Patrol along with FICE in support of JCPC (Joint Combined Planning Cell) Kingdom of Saudi Arabia which coordinated coalition support against the Iranian backed Houthi rebels in Yemen . Additionally, ''Arlington'' provided assistance to a disabled vessel while transiting the Gulf of Aden 23rd December, 2015. 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). In March 2016 Battery E, 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 26th MEU disembarked ''Arlington'' to provide counter battery support during Operation Inherent Resolve. In May 2019 she was deployed to the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The bod ...

due to reported concerns about Iranian activities. In April 2022 ''Arlington'' was deployed to

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

ic waters to take part in the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

exercise Northern Viking 2022.

References

External links

Official USS ''Arlington'' (LPD-24) website
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Arlington (Lpd-24) San Antonio-class amphibious transport docks Ships built in Pascagoula, Mississippi 2010 ships Ships of the United States Navy