USS Miguel Keith

Miguel Keith was originally a non-commissioned ship, with a USNS prefix but, like her sister ships, she was commissioned by the Navy,[11][12] in order to provide combatant commanders greater operational flexibility in utilizing the ESBs in accordance with the laws of armed conflict.[13] Additionally, the vessel is particularly well-suited to humanitarian assistance and disaster response.[7]

Miguel Keith had her keel laid on 30 January 2018[2] and she was delivered to the Navy on 15 November 2019.[3] On 8 May 2021, Miguel Keith was commissioned into Navy service at Naval Air Station North Island.[4] The ship was damaged while under construction when the National Steel and Shipbuilding Company's drydock was accidentally flooded on 11 July 2018.[14]

The 240-meter vessel is designed to provide a floating helicopter landing base, and provide other support to military operations as an expeditionary sea base.[8] The craft is officially a customizable floating command-and-control base and functionally a staging base, with the ability to launch helicopters and small boats, provide living quarters for troops, and command-and-control facilities. She can accommodate a variety of other facilities in shipping containers, including berthing for special operations troops, laundry facilities, or cold storage.[7]

The ship has a large upper flight deck, or mission deck, suitable for a wide range of applications, including the simultaneous accommodation of four helicopters. Though the ship's deck can land and maintain the largest helicopters, it cannot accommodate F-35B Joint Strike Fighters, despite their short-takeoff and vertical-landing capabilities.[7]

Below is an open space for storing equipment and for launching boats; however, there is no well deck to support the launching and recovery of hovercraft or larger boats. The flight deck separates forward and aft deckhouses. The forward deckhouse is home to a crew of 100 Navy personnel, rotated on a five-month cycle. Engineering and navigation are provided by about 40 civilian mariners berthed in the aft deckhouse.[7]

On her maiden deployment to the US 7th Fleet based in Japan, the ship left Hawaii on 20 September 2020, and arrived on 8 October 2021, anchoring off the Japanese coast near Nagasaki, Japan, at the US Naval base at Sasebo. Officially there to enhance capabilities to protect an open and free Indo-Pacific region, the arrival was suspected of being a US response to a growing Chinese military presence in the region.[8]

In October 2021, the ship was damaged by an underwater volcanic eruption. Pumice and other debris entered engineering systems requiring the engines to be shut down for intensive at-sea remediation.[15]