USS Arlington (LPD-24)

Arlingtons 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. 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, Virginia on 22 March 2013 in preparation for commissioning. 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 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, Souda Bay, Greece, Eilat, Israel, Aqaba, Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Abu Dhabi, U.A.E. and Marseille, France. 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 due to reported concerns about Iranian activities. In April 2022 Arlington was deployed to Icelandic waters to take part in the NATO exercise Northern Viking 2022. == References ==