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WASHINGTON (NNS) -- Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding laid the keel for the future USS Arlington (LPD 24) during a Dec. 18 ceremony at its Ingalls shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss. The keel was authenticated by Ron Carlee, the county manager of Arlington, Va., who confirmed that the keel was layed "straight and true."

LPD 24, the eighth ship of the San Antonio class, was given the name Arlington to honor the 184 victims in the air and on the ground who lost their lives when American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. The ship also honors the military and civilian employees, emergency, fire and rescue personnel of Arlington County and surrounding communities who provided the critical assistance after the attack. LPD 21 (New York) and LPD 25 (Somerset) are also named in remembrance of the victims of the 9/11 attacks. USS Arlington is scheduled to deliver to the Navy in 2012.

LPDs or amphibious transport dock ships, are used to transport and land Marines, their equipment and supplies by embarked air cushion or conventional landing craft or amphibious assault vehicles, augmented by helicopters or vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft. These ships support amphibious assault, special operations or expeditionary warfare missions and can serve as secondary aviation platforms for expeditionary strike groups.

San Antonio class ships are approximately 684 feet in length, have a mixed gender crew of 360 Sailors, are able to support an embarked landing force of 699, and can support a surge force of up to 800 Marines.

NEWS @US NAVY, PHOTO @NAVY SITE