[2] In January 2007, the warship was sent to the coast of Somalia to conduct antiterrorist operations as part of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower task force.

[5] On 10 April 2010, seven suspected pirates on a skiff shot at the Ashland approximately 330 nautical miles (610 km) off the coast of Djibouti.

Rigid-hulled inflatable boats from the Ashland rescued the six surviving individuals and brought them aboard the ship for medical treatment.

[6][7] On 29 November 2010 Jama Idle Ibrahim was sentenced at a federal courthouse in Norfolk, Virginia to 30 years in prison for his involvement in the April piracy attacks against the Ashland.

[8] On 26 April 2017 the US Justice Department released a statement saying that Mohamed Farah, 31, of Somalia was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the attack.

[9][10] Mid-life extension work on the Ashland, completed in 2012, included normal repair and refurbishment, as well as major alterations to several ship systems.

[11] In August 2015, Ashland with portions of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit embarked conducted Defense Support to Civil Authorities (DSCA) in Saipan after Typhoon Soudelor passed through the Commonwealth of Northern Marianas Islands.

[17] The 2022 National Defense Authorization Act blocked Ashland's decommissioning and retirement along with three other LSD class dock landing ships.