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.
Capt. Thomas Mays ticked off data as he climbed stairways with reporters and led them through hallways and bulkheads, introducing crew members in charge of each area.
The crew is composed of 49 Military Sealift Command civilian employees, 145 military personnel and up to 200 embarked forces. There are two military crew teams — blue and gold — who can swap while the ship is on station off a global trouble spot.
Depending on the objective, the John L. Caney’s 51,000-square-foot mission deck can carry inflatable boats, wheeled vehicles as well as any special equipment that can be fit inside a standard shipping container.
There are armories to resupply bombs and rockets carried by helicopters, and tanks with 500,000 gallons of jet fuel and 1 million gallons of diesel.
Although the ship carries small arms and machine guns, Mays said an escort vessel may be called in to “ride shotgun” in a threatening environment.
A sister ship, the USS Lewis B. Puller has been in the news recently, fighting off missiles from Houthi rebels and deploying Navy SEALs. Two SEALs were tragically lost on a recent mission.
Mays said the John L. Canley’s first deployment will begin in July for a mission with the 7th Fleet in the western Pacific Ocean.
