Leyte Gulf was laid down by the Litton-Ingalls Shipbuilding Corporation at Pascagoula, Mississippi, on 18 March 1985, launched on 20 June 1986, and commissioned on 26 September 1987 at Port Everglades, Florida.

[3] On 14 October 1996, Leyte Gulf collided with the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, USS Theodore Roosevelt while conducting operations off the coast of North Carolina.

[7] On 15 September 2007, there was a fire aboard Leyte Gulf as she underwent an extensive modernization program in BAE Systems Shipyard in Norfolk, Virginia.

[8] In February 2011, Leyte Gulf was involved in an incident with Somali pirates after they captured the United States flagged yacht Quest.

On 29 January 2024, Leyte Gulf deployed Sunday from Naval Station Norfolk, Va., to the 4th Fleet area of operations, which includes the Caribbean and Central and South America.

It will host HSM-50, Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 50 and Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment 404 and is expected to conduct passing exercises with regional partners and make port visits to counter threats such as illegal drug trafficking.