The second ship of the San Antonio class, the LPD 18 honors the largest city of Louisiana and one of the world's major ports. Three previous ships have borne the name New Orleans in honor of the "Crescent City." Of these three ships, CL-22 was a protected cruiser that served during the Spanish American War and WW I, CA-32 was a WW II cruiser, and LPH 11 was an amphibious assault ship in the Cold War.

The SAN ANTONIO class is the functional replacement for four classes of less capable amphibious ships equipped with 1970's and early 1980's technology, including its predecessor, the USS AUSTIN (LPD-4) class. Each LPD-17 class ship has 25,000 square feet of vehicle storage space, similar to the larger WASP (LHD-1) class multi-purpose assault ship and double that of the LPD-4.

The LPD-17 ships are the first amphibious ships designed to accommodate the Marine Corps' "mobility triad" - Advanced Amphibious Assault Vehicles (AAAV), Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC), and the Marine Corps' new tilt-rotor MV-22 Osprey - for high-speed, long-range tactical-lift operations. Just as "littoral" has come to mean operations that begin well "over-the-horizon" (OTH), as far as 600 miles from an adversary's coastline, the "mobility triad" will ensure our ability to "reach out and touch someone" hundreds of miles inland, at revolutionary speeds.

This coin honors the New Orleans LPD-18, and salutes the service men and women who serve aboard her. Struck with extra thick blanks in a proprietary brass alloy in a special minting process called "splash minting", the resulting coin exhibits extraordinary relief and detail, and retains a heavier, more substantial feel in the hand. The coin is given an antique bronze finish, and the reverse carries a deep blue enamel accent.