Overview
- The christening took place on March 7, 2026 at General Dynamics NASSCO, with Heather and Jessica Cafferata serving as co-sponsors for the traditional bottle break.
- It concludes the six-ship Expeditionary Sea Base series built at NASSCO, following earlier deliveries of ESB 3 through ESB 7 to the Navy.
- A 2019 Navy contract modification valued at up to $1.6 billion supported construction of the program’s final ESB hulls.
- Each ESB is built on a 784-foot hull with a 52,000-square-foot flight deck featuring four V-22 spots, mission decks, hangars, and command-and-control facilities.
- The class provides mobile sea-basing for special operations, airborne mine countermeasures, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, crisis response, and unmanned aviation.