Arlington’s namesake U.S. Navy ship has a new commanding officer.
Navy Capt. Vince Libasci relieved Capt. Ian Scaliatine as commander of the USS Arlington during a Nov. 14 ceremony at Naval Station Norfolk.
The 25,000-ton, 684-foot-long warship, commissioned in 2013, has a crew of 360. It is tasked with delivering a complement of 700 U.S. Marine Corps personnel to world hotspots and humanitarian relief missions.
Having embarked on its inaugural mission in 2015, the ship is expected to serve into the 2050s.
Originally from Melbourne, Fla., Libasci became the ship’s 10th commanding officer. He joined the Navy in 1994 and earned a commission in 2001 following graduation from Old Dominion University.
Libasci has completed eight deployments to the Navy’s 5th and 6th Fleets. His extensive sea duty assignments include command of the USS Cole, a Navy destroyer.
At the ceremony, the commander of Expeditionary Strike Group 2 lauded Scaliatine’s leadership as the warship moved from dry docking back to service life.
“You have harnessed the motivation, talent and work ethic on board this ship,” said Rear Adm. Neil Koprowski, after outlining the ship’s accomplishments. “Arlington — with a ship full of Marines — is ready to fight and win, now and in the future.”
Under Scaliatine’s command, USS Arlington successfully completed UNITAS, the longest-running annual multinational maritime exercise in the world, and participated in the Navy’s flagship anniversary celebration in Philadelphia.
“Everyone here today in attendance had something to do with Arlington’s success,” Scaliatine said at the change-of-command ceremony. “To the sailors, chiefs and officers of this ship: I am so looking forward to seeing where you go in the future.”
Scaliatine’s next assignment will be chief of staff at Expeditionary Strike Group 2, the position previously held by Libasci.
Kevin Reardon, who heads the USS Arlington Community Alliance, praised Scaliatine for continuing the work of his predecessors in keeping ties with the ship’s namesake locality.
“Capt. Scaliatine made every effort to connect with the Pentagon 9/11 families, Pentagon first responders, and the Arlington community,” said Reardon, a retired Arlington County Police Department captain.
Scaliatine received a presentation box from the USS Arlington Community Alliance.
The USS Arlington is one of a trio of San Antonio-class amphibious transport docks named to honor the three communities most impacted by the 9/11 terror attacks of 2001. The others are the USS New York and the USS Somerset.
The USS Arlington is the third Navy ship to bear the community’s name.
The first USS Arlington was a cargo/troop ship commissioned in 1944 for wartime use. Not needed after the conclusion of World War II, the ship was decommissioned in 1946 and held in “mothball” status until 1965, when it was scrapped.
The second USS Arlington was the former aircraft carrier USS Saipan, converted in the 1960s to serve as a communications hub in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War.
The ship, rechristened USS Arlington after conversion, also was instrumental in supporting the Apollo space program, providing communications support during splashdowns in the Pacific Ocean.
Naming a communications ship after Arlington was purposeful. From 1913 until 1941, the Navy had operated a succession of radio towers — the most powerful in the world at the time — from a site near Fort Myer (now Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall).
The towers, up to 600 feet tall, were designed to enable communications between Navy headquarters in D.C. and naval ships on deployment worldwide.
With its mission superseded by new technology, that USS Arlington was decommissioned and sold for scrap in the mid-1970s.
Thanks to U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Charity Edgar for assistance with this reporting.
