This made the Newport class the first to depart from the standard LST design that had been developed in early World War II.

The LST carried 1,750 long tons (1,780 t) of diesel fuel for a range of 2,500 nautical miles (4,600 km; 2,900 mi) at the cruising speed of 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph).

[5][7] The Newport class were larger and faster than previous LSTs and were able to transport tanks, heavy vehicles and engineer groups and supplies that were too large for helicopters or smaller landing craft to carry.

[3][9] The vessels also have davits for four vehicle and personnel landing craft (LCVPs) and could carry four pontoon causeway sections along the sides of the hull.

Named for the county in New York, Cayuga was launched on 12 July 1969, sponsored by the wife of Vice Admiral Luther C. Heinz, Commander of Amphibious Forces, Atlantic.

Following commissioning, Cayuga was assigned to the Amphibious Force, Pacific Fleet and home ported at Long Beach, California.

In 28 May 2004, Mattoso Maia left Rio de Janeiro at noon along with the Grupo-Tarefa (Task Group) 705.2, made up of the dock landing ship Ceará, the frigate Rademaker and the tanker Almirante Gastão Motta heading towards Port-au-Prince in operation HAITI I. Mattoso Maia was loaded with twelve 5-ton Unimog trucks of the Brazilian Marine Corps, including two freezer, two water and two fuel trailers, and a platoon of Marine Corps Police from the Reinforcement Brigade.

The vessel would also take her second voyage to Haiti in 2004, leaving Rio de Janeiro in 18 November with 250 Marines and 160 tons of supplies and arriving in Port-au-Prince in 5 December.

She would arrive back at Rio de Janeiro on 3 January bringing home part of the first batch on troops that were deployed in MINUSTAH.

[1] In 2006, after taking part in the exercises ASPIRANTEX-06 and TROPICALEX-I/06, Mattoso Maia was selected on 17 May for operation HAITI III along with Rio de Janeiro, the frigates Niterói and Independência, and the tanker Almirante Gastão Motta.

Almirante Gastão Motta split from the Task Group on 29 May, leaving for Santo Domingo, whilst the frigates left for San Juan on 30 May and Mattoso Maia offloaded at Port-au-Prince on 31 May.

The Task Group started their return on 7 June, passing by Curaçao, Belém and Maceió before reaching Rio de Janeiro on 8 July, where Mattoso Maia offloaded 238 Marines as well as 5 EE-11 Urutu armored personnel carriers that were damaged in Haiti.