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Supply Line To USS Tarawa Adds Spice to Deployment

Navy NewStand

Story Number: NNS030415-08
Release Date: 4/15/2003 11:16:00 AM

By Chief Journalist William Polson, USS Tarawa Public Affairs

ABOARD USS TARAWA, At Sea (NNS) -- Take 1,200 Sailors on a six-month deployment, stir in 1,400 voracious Marines, add a pinch of super management skills to oversee a supply line that stretches halfway around the world, and you have the ingredients for a well-stocked amphibious assault ship during wartime.

That's the house specialty these days for Cmdr. Ray Rodriguez and his supply department aboard USS Tarawa (LHA 1). As the department head, Rodriguez is responsible for providing just about everything for the population equivalent of a small town.

"It's an amazing amount of work," said Rodriguez. "With all the Marines embarked, we're trying to keep 2,600 people supplied with everything from underwear to compact disks, as well as provided with the same variety of food they would normally expect to see back home. With the increased number of people aboard and the increased demand in a wartime environment, it becomes that much more difficult."

Adding to the difficulty is the large number of U.S. Navy ships participating in Operation Iraqi Freedom that also need to be resupplied. Rodriguez said Tarawa, like the other approximately 130 ships in or near the Arabian Gulf, has to fit into the tight schedule of the U.S. naval ships that support them.

"There's only so many re-supply ships, and for them to keep all the aircraft carrier groups and amphibious ready groups stocked is really quite a task," he said. "The supply ships are constantly making runs from the re-supply port in Jebel Ali. They usually load up for a carrier and two amphibious big decks, all at the same time. So it's an amazing amount of stores and work, especially within a timeframe before those ships start running out of basic staples such as milk, flour and sugar."

In some cases, such as food items, the supplies take on a decidedly international flavor. With Tarawa so far from home port, supply has to import food from a number of foreign sources.

"Some beef, fresh fruits and vegetables come from Australia," said Rodriguez, "and a lot of other items we get from local vendors in the Arabian Gulf area."

The one ingredient that Rodriguez and his department can't do without is the crew's help when the supplies finally arrive.

"About 500 of the 1,200 Sailors on the ship are actively engaged in supporting some portion of an underway replenishment," he said. For example, the Sailors and Marines in combat cargo work for hours in the hot sun unloading pallets; air department makes sure that the helicopters don't drop the crates so we have a bunch of cracked eggs and bottles; and the engineers keep the elevators running so we need less people for the working parties. It's really something that involves the entire ship."

Tarawa is currently deployed to the Arabian Gulf in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and serves as the flagship of Commander, Task Force 51.