Navy cargo ship, USNS Seay, just keeps rolling along.

The rebuilding of Iraq is just as demanding on sealift operators as the war. The current missions of the USNS Seay (T-AKR 302) offer a glimpse of the post-war sealift operations.

The Seay--one of the Military Sealift Command's Bob Hope class of large, medium-speed, roll-on/roll-off

After a few days in Newport News, Va., to fill the ship's stores, perform some minor maintenance and undergo some routine safety inspections, she was off again. This time, the Seay pulled into the port of Charleston, S.C., rook on a load of humanitarian and peacekeeping supplies, and headed back to the Persian Gulf.

The round trip to Kuwait and back usually takes about 56 days, said Chief Mate Peter K. Strez. "We stop in Greece, coming and going, to refuel," he said.

As chief mate, Strez is second in command of the ship. "Basically, I'm the eyes and ears for the captain on deck," Strez explained. "He can't be everywhere. When he gives an order, I carry it our."

After the Third ACR shipped its equipment from its base at Fort Carson, Colo., to the port of Beaumont, Texas, it took six LMSRs, including the Seay, to move that gear from Beaumont to Kuwait. Included were Abrams tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles, humvees and Apache helicopters. "We always carry a mixed cargo," said Strez.

The Seay--christened in 1998 at Northrop Grumman's Avondale Shipyard in New Orleans--was named for Army Sgt. William M. Seay, who won a posthumous Medal of Honor in Vietnam. The ship is designed to carry large cargo and to deliver it quickly. (related story p. 26)

The Seay can cruise at a speed of 24 knots, which is pretty fast for a vessel that is almost as big as an aircraft carrier, Strez said. It has six cavernous decks. Some can be moved up or down to make room for particularly bulky platforms, such as Chinook helicopters, Strez said.

The decks have countless cloverleaf-shaped vehicle tie-downs built into them. The cloverleaves attach to heavy, steel chains--each capable of bearing 17,000 pounds of weight--that are used to lash down tanks, trucks and heavy equipment, he explained. Four are required to restrain a humvee. Eight are needed for a 70-ton tank.

An Abrams is about the heaviest thing we have to handle here," Strez said.

Heavy Seas

The vehicles have to be tied down, so that they won't move when heavy seas rock the ship, Strez said. The lashings have to be checked periodically, because vibrations caused by the ship's engines can loosen them, he noted.

The Seay's crew consists of 30 civilian merchant mariners, all employees of Patriot Contract Services, of Walnut Creek, Calif., which has a contract to operate six cargo ships in the Ready Reserve Fleet, said William L. Cook, an MSC public affairs specialist, based in Norfolk, Va.

Six of the crewmembers are women, explained the ship's master, Capt. Roger L. Haskell. Female crewmembers have become common on MSC ships. "The women are just like the men," he said. "Some are good, and some aren't."

One of the women, in fact, has performed so well that she has been promoted into the officer ranks. Tamara Becker has been named third mate in the deck department. Becker, an eight-year veteran of the Merchant Marine, said she earned the promotion "by meeting all of the requirements and working hard."

The Seay's crew even includes a full family. "We have a husband, wife and daughter on board," Haskell said. "One of my colleagues sent his greetings to them," he joked. "He said, 'Say hi to the Brady Bunch.'

"Having a family on board a Navy cargo ship is unusual," Haskell admitted. "But it is working out well here."

On the way out, the ship--wary of terrorist attacks--typically picks up a protective Navy escort, such as a fast frigate, at the Straits of Gibraltar, Strez said.

The escort accompanies her through the Mediterranean, through the Suez Canal, the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea and finally into the Persian Gulf.

The most recent voyage was uneventful, crewmembers said. "On a day-to-day basis, I felt very safe," said Becker. "In fact, this trip was really enjoyable.

"One of the reasons that I shipped was to see the world," she said. "I get paid to sail. I love it."

Becker's only complaint was that she saw almost nothing of Kuwait. Ships were lined up in the Gulf, waiting to pull into the dock. "We waited almost a week to discharge our cargo," she said.

Once the ship got to the dock, there was no time to sightsee. "I saw the dock for about 12 hours," she said. "The crew was allowed off the ship only to check lines and shafts. We were busy anyway. We worked long hours, offloading cargo."

In Kuwait, the Seay picked up a contingent of "Guardian Mariners"--12 members from Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 65th Infantry, 92nd Separate Infantry Brigade, Puerto Rico National Guard.

Guardian Mariners have been assigned to beef up force protection for all MSC ships sailing to and from Southwest Asia. "All of our ships are non-combatants," said Cook. "The crews are trained to use small arms the M-14 rifle, 9 mm pistol and 12-gauge shotgun.

The Guardian Mariners can operate heavier weapons, such as the .50 machine gun, and they are schooled in chemical, biological and radiological defense.

During the long journey back to the United States, the Seay's crew devoted its attention to giving the ship an intensive cleaning, Strez said.

The cargo of tanks, Bradleys, humvees and helicopters, which had been delivered to Kuwait, had left behind gallons of leaked crank case oil, grease "all kinds of gunk," he said.

"We had to scrub down everything. It was very hard. You're talking about a ship that is almost the length and breadth of an aircraft carrier.

Doing the cleaning cost about $10,000 in overtime, Cook said. "But if we did it in port, it could cost up to $100,000."

Keeping the ship clean is more than just a job, Strez said. It is a matter of national pride. "We take it very seriously," he said. That is not the case with many foreign-flag vessels, he said.

Because of its huge size and small crew, the Seay is able to offer creature comforts once unavailable to ordinary sailors. Each crewmember, for example, gets his or her own stateroom. Also, crewmembers can watch live television shows, broadcast via satellite from the United States.

After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, however, the crew of the Seay and other MSC mariners are finding themselves under tighter security scrutiny. The U.S. Coast Guard has begun fingerprinting all mariners seeking to renew their documentation.

The service also has begun conducting its own background checks, in addition to the investigations being performed by the Defense Department.

The Coast Guard is finding that some mariners are providing information that conflicts with what they told the Defense Department.

RELATED ARTICLE: USNS Seay (T-AKR 3023

The USNS Seay is one of the Military Sealift Command's 19 large, medium-speed roll-on/roll-off ships and one of 28 ships assigned to the sealift program.

Length: 950 feet

Beam: 106 feet

Draft: 34 feet

Displacement: 62069 long tons

Speed: 25 knots

Crew: 30 civilians