This story has been updated to clarify that the ship had not yet thrown its lines over.
USS Iwo Jima (LHD-7) will now call Norfolk, Va., home as part of a planned shift in homeports.
Iwo Jima arrived in its new homeport Monday afternoon and was pier-side as of 1:15 p.m., although it had not yet thrown its lines over, said Lt. Cmdr. Paul Newell, Expeditionary Strike Group Two (ESG-2) spokesperson.
Iwo Jima had been underway in the Virginia Capes, USNI News previously reported, before arriving at its homeport. It departed from its former homeport of Naval Station Mayport, Fla., on Dec. 10, according to the Navy.
The shift in homeports is just one in a series of planned changes over the next few years, according to a news release from Expeditionary Strike Group Two.
“The plan will increase the number of guided-missile destroyers in the Mayport area and consolidate amphibious ships in the Norfolk area,” according to the release. “It will support extended maintenance availabilities at local shipyards in both fleet concentration areas.”
Personnel changes due to the homeport shifts are expected to have negligible economic effects, according to the release.
Iwo Jima was previously homeported in Naval Station Mayport and had arrived back home in October following a deployment in which it helped support the withdrawal from Afghanistan.
While homeported in Naval Station Mayport, Iwo Jima performed local operations in the western Atlantic at the end of November, USNI News previously reported.
