San Antonio is the first U.S. Navy vessel to incorporate new crew comfort features, including bunks with increased headroom, in-rack fans, and pull-out laptop computer shelves.

Shaping features include: On 17 December 1996, the U.S. Navy awarded a contract to an industrial alliance led by Northrop Grumman Ship Systems (formerly Litton Avondale), with General Dynamics Bath Iron Works, Raytheon Electronic Systems and Intergraph Corporation, to design and construct the first of an anticipated 12 ships under the Navy's LPD-17 program.

Work was delayed further when the ship became a base for regional relief efforts, including accommodations for some shipyard workers, the National Guard, Navy diving and salvage personnel and government officials.

[citation needed] USS San Antonio was built by Northrop Grumman Ship Systems in New Orleans, the 684-foot, 25,000-ton vessel was launched on 12 July 2003, and christened one week later.

In October 2013, Al Qaeda operative Abu Anas al-Libi was seized in Libya and then transferred to San Antonio to await transport to the United States for a trial and questioning.

[8] On 12 October 2016, San Antonio and destroyer Mason were transiting through the southern end of the Red Sea when missiles were fired at them from Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen.

In response to the attack on Mason and San Antonio, the destroyer Nitze launched five cruise missiles against three radar sites in Yemen that U.S. officials believe targeted the U.S.

San Antonio carried UH-1 Y Hueys and AH-1 W Cobras from the 22nd MEU's Aviation Combat Unit, VMM-264; Marine Harrier fighters were part of the operation aboard Wasp.

[13] In November 2008, two months into her maiden deployment, San Antonio had been forced to undergo an unplanned maintenance stop in Bahrain due to leaks in its lube oil piping system.

[15] During an anti-piracy mission in February 2009, one of the ship's crew, Petty Officer 1st Class Theophilus K. Ansong, 34, of Bristol, Virginia, was killed in a small boat accident in the Gulf of Aden.

During the trial, his defense team presented evidence of the ship's numerous deficiencies and lack of written procedures as contributing to the accident.

A top aide in the Department of Defense was quoted as saying that Northrop Grumman's ships are "not effective, suitable and not survivable in combat".

The report also blamed Raytheon, a subcontractor providing fiber optics, electrical and anti-missile systems for San Antonio, for "persistent engineering deficiencies.

[24] The executive director of the Regional Maintenance Activity (RMC), Thomas J. Murphy, managing the work was relieved and transferred, as were the senior Waterfront Operations personnel.