Career
Name:	Arlington
Namesake:	Arlington County, Virginia
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 (official) 6 April 2013 (ceremonial)
Homeport:	Naval Station Norfolk
Status:	In commission
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, for surface threat defense; two RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile launchers for air defense
Aircraft carried:	Four CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters or two MV-22 tiltrotor aircraft may be launched or recovered simultaneously.

 
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, Virginia, the location of the Pentagon. Like her sister ships, USS New York and Somerset, she is named in commemoration of the September 11, 2001 attacks.^[2] Steel taken from the Pentagon after the September 11 attacks will be displayed aboard.^[4]

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.^[5] 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. ^[8]

Arlington arrived at her homeport of Naval Station Norfolk, VA on 22 March 2013 in preparation for commissioning.^[9] Officially, she was commissioned on 8 February 2013, but her ceremonial commissioning occurred on 6 April 2013 at Naval Station Norfolk.^[10] Originally scheduled as the third ship of the San Antonio class; she is the 8th to be commissioned.

The San Antonio class ships have been plagued by construction problems. ^[11][12] The Arlington is no exception.

Mrs. Joyce Rumsfeld, wife of former United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, is the ship's sponsor.^[13]

USS Arlington is christened by Joyce Rumsfeld.