USS John L. Canley joins the fleet to project power in non-intense environments.
Another mobile sea-based asset:
The Navy will commission the future USS John L. Canley (ESB 6) as the newest Expeditionary Sea Base ship (ESB)[.]
These aren't replacements for the amphibious warfare ships the Navy has to send Marines ashore against opposition:
ESB 6 joins the USS Lewis B. Puller (ESB 3), USS Hershel "Woody" Williams (ESB 4), USS Miguel Keith (ESB 5) which support a variety of maritime-based missions, including Special Operations Forces (SOF) and Airborne Mine Counter Measures (AMCM). ESBs have a four-spot flight deck, mission deck, and hangar, designed around four core capabilities: aviation facilities, berthing, equipment staging support, and command and control assets.
But they are useful in peacetime power projection missions or in lower threat level areas in war. I don't think they'd hold up during war near a peer--or even against the Houthis, for that matter.
I like to flatter myself that ESBs are the non-duct tape versions of The AFRICOM Queen I proposed in Military Review.
NOTE: TDR Winter War of 2022 coverage continues here.
