Sailors and Marines manned the rails as the amphibious transport dock ship USS Arlington (LPD 24) set sail from Naval Station Norfolk Tuesday morning, October 6, for its maiden deployment.
The ship pulled out of Norfolk to begin the transit across the Atlantic Ocean.
The San Antonio-class ship and its nearly 1,200 Sailors and Marines are scheduled to conduct operations in the U.S. Navy’s 6th and 5th Fleet areas of responsibility as part of an ongoing rotation of U.S. forces supporting maritime security operations in international waters around the globe.
Command Master Chief Brian McDonough said:
The fact that this is Arlington’s maiden deployment is very significant in that this is an event that will only happen once, and it is great to finally see all of the work this crew has put into this ship throughout the training cycle culminate in this historic event.
Commanding Officer Capt. Sean Bailey added:
We will be exercising all of the skills that we have practiced and refined during this last year of training, and my expectation is that Arlington’s maiden deployment will be both a mission success as well as professionally and personally rewarding for its crew.
[mappress mapid=”17138″]
Image: US Navy