We took a tour of the USS Arlington, the US Navy's amphibious warship that takes Marines ashore

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June 7, 2018 9:47 PM

The Navy showed off the Arlington during Fleet Week in New York City.

One of the warships that the US Navy showed off at Fleet Week in New York City in May was the USS Arlington, a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship.

And I got a chance to go aboard.

Built by Northrop Grumman, the USS Arlington was commissioned in 2013.

Northrop Grumman is onelargest defense contractors and political donors in the US

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It's about 684 feet long, 105 feet wide and has a maximum displacement of 25,883 tons.

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Now, let's go aboard.

Upon entering, the well deck is to the left, which is where the ship transports marines and vehicles, such as the amphibious assault vehicle in the middle, ashore.

This is a landing craft air cushion, which brings vehicles and marines ashore. The Arlington can hold two LCACs in the well bay, or one landing craft utility ship.

The LCAC is basically a hovercraft, which inflates before taking vehicles and marines ashore.

But, obviously, this door has to drop before the LCACs or LCUs can disembark.

Like this...

Or this...

But in shallower waters, the AAVs can drive off themselves.

And here's a shot of the well deck from the storage area above.

To the right of the entrance, there's even more storage areas for vehicles.

And even a lower storage area.

There's a also a general store for the crew of nearly 400.

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Now, let's go out to the flight deck.

Here's a wide shot of the flight deck at the pier in Manhattan.

The flight deck can hold two CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters or two MV-22 Ospreys or up to four CH-46 Sea Knights or SH-60 Seahawks.

The Navy also had an AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter onboard.

The Cobra is akin to the US Army's Apache attack helicopter.

You can read more about the Cobra here.

And a UH-1Y Venom helicopter.

You can read more about the Venom here.

San Antonio-class LPDs are also rather heavily armed with two rolling airframe missile launchers (one of which is in the top left), two Mk 46 30 mm guns and 10 .50 caliber machines guns.

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And here's a shot of the tower from the back of the flight deck. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to go up, marking the end of the tour.

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