USS Portland (LPD-27) is a ship of the United States Navy, named after the U.S. city of Portland, Oregon. The ship was laid down in 2013, launched in 2016 and commissioned in 2018. The ship was armed with a Laser Weapon System for testing.
Portlands keel was laid down on 2 August 2013, at the Ingalls Shipbuilding yard in Pascagoula, Mississippi. The ship's sponsor is Bonnie Amos, wife of U.S. Marine Corps Commandant General James F. Amos. Portland was launched on 13 February 2016. She was delivered to the Navy on 18 September 2017.
She was commissioned on 14 December 2017. Her commissioning ceremony was held on 21 April 2018, when she was in the city of Portland for the festivities. The commissioning ceremony was protested by a number of local anti-war groups, who opposed a warship being named after the city.
A next-generation follow-on to the AN/SEQ-3 Laser Weapon System (LaWS) was slated for integration onto Portland as a technology demonstration after the decommissioning of , which carried the LaWS before it, and was installed at the end of 2018. In May 2020, Portland successfully destroyed an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with the solid-state laser, Technology Maturation Laser Weapon System Demonstrator (LWSD) MK 2 MOD 0 with a power level of 150 kW. In December 2021, the LaWS successfully destroyed a marine target floating in the Gulf of Aden.
On 27âÂÂ30 May, Portland and were open to the public as a part of Los Angeles Fleet Week 2022, in San Pedro, California.
Portland was assigned as the recovery ship for the Orion capsule of the Artemis 1 uncrewed Moon-orbiting mission, successfully completed on 11 December 2022. The spacecraft's floating Orion capsule was pulled into the flooded well deck at the stern of the vessel off the coast of Baja California.
On 19 March 2026, it was reported that -led Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) was deploying ahead of schedule to support Operation Epic Fury. It would be joined by Portland and . The ARG would join the Tripoli Amphibious Ready Group that is already underway. The 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) has embarked on the ARG ships which will sail through the Indo-Pacific to the Middle East. There are around 2,500 Marine Corps personnel of the total of 4,000 service members in the fleet. The sailors and Marines have shortened their leave following certification and training in order to accelerate their deployment.