Her ability to adjust her draft, accompanied by her unique bow-ramp design, helped bring a new degree of responsiveness to the amphibious fleet.

Assigned to the United States Atlantic Fleet for the entirety of her career, Newport made deployments to the Mediterranean and Caribbean Seas.

In Mexican service, the LST has participated in humanitarian missions in the aftermath of the hurricanes Katrina and Sandy and taken part in multi-national naval exercises.

Newport was the first of her class which were designed to meet the goal put forward by the United States amphibious forces to have a tank landing ship (LST) capable of over 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph).

The LST carried 1,750 long tons (1,778 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).

The ship was also equipped with a bow thruster to allow for better maneuvering near causeways and to hold position while offshore during the unloading of amphibious vehicles.

[3][5] 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.

[9] After several years laid up Newport was sold to the Mexican Navy on 18 January 2001 as part of the Security Assistance Program in a cash sale and renamed Sonora (A-04).

[11] In late 2005, ARM Papaloapan brought aid and supplies to Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina hit the state, with her crew taking part in cleanup efforts near Biloxi.