The contract to build her was awarded to National Steel and Shipbuilding Company (NASSCO) of San Diego, California, on 18 October 2001.

Two of Sacagawea's descendants, Lucy Diaz and Rachel Ariwite, were the ship's sponsors.

In January 2013, USNS Sacagawea was transferred to the Maritime Prepositioning Squadron Three (MPSRON-3) in Saipan.

Freedom Banner is the only annually funded Maritime Prepositioning Force exercise in the Marine Corps and continues to be a proving ground for concept validation.

During Freedom Banner 13, the Marine Air Ground Task Force (MAGTF) used both vertical connectors in the form of MV-22 Osprey aircraft,[1] and surface connectors in the form of landing craft, utility (LCU), and landing craft, mechanized, “Mike 8” (LCM-8) boats loaded aboard USNS 1st Lt. Jack Lummus.