The Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Oscar Austin refuels in the Atlantic Ocean on Aug. 11, 2024. The ship is set to deploy to Spain this fall as part of the Navy's expansion of allied sea power in Europe. (Darren Cordoviz/U.S. Navy)

The first of two additional U.S. Navy destroyers the Pentagon plans to deploy to Europe to expand NATO sea power will pull in to Spain sometime in the fall, according to the service.

No specific time frame was given for the arrival of USS Oscar Austin in the Navy’s official announcement this week, but preparations have been underway for at least eight months. The ship is currently homeported in Norfolk, Va.

In December, officials at Naval Station Rota in Spain said they were sending command staff and other personnel to assist sailors and their families attached to Oscar Austin with the homeport transition.

Four other destroyers — USS Paul Ignatius, USS Bulkeley, USS Arleigh Burke and USS Roosevelt — already are deployed to Rota as part of Destroyer Squadron 60. A sixth unannounced destroyer also is planned to deploy to Rota in 2026.

The addition of Oscar Austin comes after Spain greenlighted a plan in 2023 to increase the number of U.S. destroyers based at Rota to six.

The pact came amid Russia’s ongoing war on Ukraine and increasing concerns about Russian submarine presence from the north Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea.

U.S. commanders have long championed the increase in firepower. The Arleigh Burke-class destroyers work in conjunction with land-based Aegis ballistic missile defense sites to protect Europe.

The U.S. started keeping destroyers in Spain in 2014, beginning with USS Ross and USS Cook.