Amphibious transport dock ship USS Arlington floats through the darkness in a shroud of silence and solitude.

Throughout the ship many of her Sailors lay in their racks sleeping soundly in the knowledge that the many watchstanders in the combat communications center are protecting them from any number of threats that lay out in the forbidding sea.

"Known as combat information center on other ships, CCC is one of the main hubs where information is gathered from off ship," said Lt. Cody Gates, combat systems officer aboard the ship. "We analyze information such as radar contacts and disseminate it to the other watch stations so that the commanding officer or the officer of the deck can have a complete picture and make informed decisions."

CCC is manned by officers, cryptologic technicians (technical), fire controlmen, gunner's mates, and operations specialists standing a range of watches each as important as the next.

"We work as one big team to gather and disseminate information to where it's needed most," said Operations Specialist 2nd Class Gary Hicks. "Evolutions such as regular ship's movements, amphibious operations, flight quarters and even tactical environments are completed successfully because the watch standers in CCC are providing that vital information."

At the head of all of this sits the tactical action officer. The TAO acts as a conduit of all of the information processed throughout CCC to pass it along to the commanding officer, the bridge or anywhere else it needs to go.

"The watchstanders are trained to make dynamic decisions based on information from the radars," said Lt. Christopher Petersen, operations officer. "They have to evaluate the situations outside the ship and make recommendations to the TAO, and through the TAO, to the commanding officer or officer of the deck about what to do in those situations."

Through training and preparation, the watchstanders of CCC are ready to handle any situation thrown at them as they stand ever vigilant guarding the ship and her crew.

Arlington is part of the Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) and, with the embarked 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), is deployed in support of maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations.

For more news from USS Arlington (LPD 24), visit www.navy.mil/