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

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

to be named for Arlington County,

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

, the location of

the Pentagon The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense, in Arlington County, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. The building was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As ...

and the crash site of

American Airlines Flight 77 American Airlines Flight 77 was a scheduled domestic transcontinental passenger flight from Dulles International Airport in Northern Virginia to Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles. The Boeing 757-200 aircraft serving the flig ...

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 of a watercraft, important for stability. On some sailboats, it may have a fluid dynamics, hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose as well. The keel laying, laying of the keel is often ...

was laid down on 26 May 2008, at

Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American multinational Aerospace manufacturer, aerospace and Arms industry, defense company. With 97,000 employees and an annual revenue in excess of $40 billion, it is one of the world's largest Arms industry ...

's Ingalls shipyard in

Pascagoula, Mississippi Pascagoula ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Jackson County, Mississippi, United States. It is the principal city of the Pascagoula metropolitan area, and is part of the Gulfport, Mississippi, Gulfport–Biloxi, Mississippi, Biloxi–Pascag ...

. 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 Ham ...

, 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 (acronym: SecDef) is the head of the United States Department of Defense (DoD), the United States federal executive departments, executive department of the United States Armed Forces, U.S. Armed Forces, a ...

Donald Rumsfeld, is the ship's sponsor.

Operational history

In August 2013, ''Arlington'' conducted trials with NASA's Orion spacecraft. 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 ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

, Souda Bay, Greece, Eilate, Israel, Aqaba, Jordan,

Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...

Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...

, Abu Dhabi, U.A.E. and Marseille, France. ''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, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...

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

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

ic waters to take part in the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

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