Spain and Australia are building a ship that may be what we are looking for, it is a LHA about 1.5 billion CAN. Here are the specs,
Length 230.8m
Beam 32.0m
prop to flight deck 27.5m
full load displacement 27,079t
powerplant Gas turbines electrical (pods)
speed max 21 kts empty, 19.5 kts full load
range 7000km at 16 kts, 9000km kts at 15 kts
crew 243
airwing 172
amphibious assult force 902 troops
multi function hangar/garage 6000 m squared capacity for 6000 tons cargo.
aircraft up to 30 mix types from 4 Ch-47 to F-35B
well for 1 LCAC or up to 4 LCM
With this ship we would get a prov en design, man power requirements are much lower then Comparable US LHA's and gives us the option to either have our allies use the ship as an aircraft carrier or allow us time to build up a working squadron when we can afford it.