US Marine Lost at Sea Off Southern California Identified

Search and rescue efforts turned into recovery operations for a 21-year-old Minnesota native who served with I Marine Expeditionary Force.

The USS Anchorage, an amphibious transport dock, makes its way up Alaska's Cook Inlet on May 1, 2013. Mark Thiessen/AP Photo

The Marine who was lost at sea off the coast of Southern California during training operations late last week has been identified as Lance Cpl. Armando Ortiz Canseco, a 21-year-old from Minnesota.

The announcement was made by I Marine Expeditionary Force on June 29.

Canseco, who was declared deceased on June 27, had been reported missing from the amphibious transport dock ship USS Anchorage (LPD 23) on June 25. A lengthy search-and-rescue operation followed, which has since transitioned to recovery efforts.

“On behalf of the Marines and Sailors of the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, I extend our deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of Lance Cpl. Ortiz Canseco,” Col. Richard Alvarez, the commanding officer of the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, said in a statement.

“He earned the title of United States Marine and served his country with honor and commitment. We mourn alongside his family, and we remain committed to bringing him home.”

Capt. Gary A. Harrington, the commodore of Amphibious Squadron 7, said the loss is deeply felt across the entire Navy-Marine Corps team involved in the training.

“The amphibious Navy exists to fight alongside the Marine Corps, and a loss to the Marine Corps family is a loss to our own,” he said. “We are a resilient force, and we continue to stand shoulder-to-shoulder in support of Lance Cpl. Ortiz Canseco’s loved ones and our ongoing recovery operations.”

Canseco enlisted in the Marine Corps on April 3, 2023. He initially reported for training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, becoming a U.S. Marine on June 30, 2023, with Platoon 3210, India Company, 3rd Recruit Training Battalion. He qualified as a 0311 Rifleman.

He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, at Camp Pendleton, and then later transferred to 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment.

He was temporarily assigned aboard the USS Anchorage ahead of training with the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit and Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group.

Canseco earned the Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal and the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon. The circumstances of the incident remain under investigation.

In December 2025, a Marine in the I Marine Expeditionary Force died during a training exercise at Camp Pendleton in Southern California.

The Marine died of injuries resulting from a “tactical vehicle mishap.”

The I Marine Expeditionary Force is one of the three Marine expeditionary forces and is based in San Diego County.

The Marine Corps identified Private First Class Tanner F. Rubio as the Marine who died in the tactical vehicle mishap on Dec. 3 at a Marine base camp.

Rubio, 21, a native of Dixon, California, joined the Marine Corps in January 2025 and was trained as an infantry rifleman.