A unique warship that’s almost as large as an aircraft carrier and able to support missions ranging from disaster relief to special operations looms over the Coronado waterfront in preparation for its commissioning on Saturday.
The Navy showed off its newest Expeditionary Sea Base — the future USS John L. Canley, on Thursday — taking local media on a tour from the mission deck to the flight deck to the bridge.
It’s the fourth of its type built by NASSCO in Barrio Logan, and its specifications are staggering — 785 feet in length, 90,000 tons fully loaded, with a 52,500-square-foot flight deck that can support four helicopters or tiltrotors simultaneously landing and taking off.
The Navy describes the ship as “a versatile and reliable forward-deployed staging platform for Marine Corps airborne mine counter measures, special operations forces, security teams, unmanned systems and other embarking units through all phases of armed conflict.”
The ship is named for a Marine who received the Medal of Honor during the Battle of Hue in the Vietnam War. John Lee Canley, who died in 2022, led his surrounded platoon in fighting off multiple attacks over a week in 1968.