Huntingburg native serving aboard Navy ship named in honor of 9/11 victims and heroes

by Navy Office of Community Outreach

Huntingburg native Cassandra Petry is serving aboard one of the U.S. Navy’s three ships named in honor of the victims and heroes of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The 2011 Southridge grad is an Electrician’s Mate Petty Officer Third Class aboard the USS Arlington, named for the county of Arlington, Virginia, to honor the first responders and the 184 victims who died when American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon. The 15th anniversary of the attacks is next Sunday, September 11.

An electrician’s mate is responsible for the electrical system aboard the ship ensuring power to all spaces.

“I enjoy the new challenges each day,” said Petry. “I’m cross rating to a master-at-arms and I’m constantly learning new things about that rate after serving as an engineer for five years.”

USS Arlington, one of the Navy’s newest and most advanced amphibious ships, is designed to deliver Marines and their equipment where they are needed to support a variety of missions ranging from amphibious assaults to humanitarian relief efforts, Navy officials said. Homeported in Norfolk, Virginia, USS Arlington is longer than two football fields at 684 feet, is 105 feet wide and weighs more than 24,000 tons. It has four diesel engines that can push the ship through the water in excess of 26 mph.

Arlington has a museum onboard that displays steel taken from the wreckage at the Pentagon after the 9/11 attacks. Its motto of “Strength, Honor, Fortitude” embodies the strength and determination of the people of the United States: to recover, rally, and take the fight to the enemy and honor the memory of those who were affected by the attacks. According to Navy officials, USS Arlington forges an enduring alliance between the people of Arlington, Virginia, America, the Pentagon, the ship, and the crew.

“I think the best thing about this ship is all of the plank owners that are still here,” said Petry. “We all have this family mentality. Once we commissioned the ship the original crew is a family. We made the ship what it is.”

Sailors’ jobs are highly varied aboard Arlington. More than 400 men and women make up the ship’s crew, which keeps all parts of the ship running smoothly, from washing dishes and preparing meals to handling weaponry and maintaining the engines. An additional 700 Marines can be embarked. Arlington is capable of transporting the Marines and landing them where they are needed via helicopters, vertical takeoff and landing aircraft and landing craft.

“Arlington just completed a deployment that has been both personally and professionally rewarding for all of the sailors and Marines aboard the ship,” said Capt. Sean Bailey, commanding officer of USS Arlington. “Despite the challenges of being deployed far from home for seven months, the level of dedication and commitment to professional execution of our mission never wavered. Arlington’s Maiden Deployment marks the opening chapter in what I’m positive will be a long and outstanding legacy of naval excellence.”

USS Arlington is one of nine San Antonio-class ships, which will replace more than 41 ships providing the Navy and Marine Corps with modern sea-based platforms. The ship is an Amphibious Transport Dock, and according to the Navy, it is designed to embark, transport, and land elements of a landing force for a variety of expeditionary warfare missions. These ships support amphibious assaults, special operations or expeditionary warfare missions and can serve as secondary aviation platforms for amphibious ready groups. Because of their capabilities, these ships have been and will continue to be called upon to support humanitarian and other contingency missions on short notice as well.

“I have a niece and three nephews, so for me serving in the Navy is about being a role model for them,” said Petry. “My family background isn’t the best so for me it is about making a change for them. It doesn’t matter where you come from you can end up successful. I went from working at Dairy Queen to being in the Navy.”