NAVY MAN VISITS SHIP NAMED CAPE

Lt. Cmdr. Donald R. Taylor knew about the S.S. Cape Girardeau for some time. It was listed in the 1994 Almanac of Seapower, only one of two "Cape G" ships in the Ready Reserve Force fleet.

During a recent trip to visit relatives in San Francisco, Taylor had an opportunity to tour the ship named for Cape Girardeau. He serves as commanding officer of the Naval Reserve Center here.

Owned by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Maritime Administration, the S.S. Cape Girardeau is operated by civilian crews in wartime. Right now it sits at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in San Francisco Bay, occupied for only a few hours each week as maintenance workers check its condition.

"It isn't open for tours, but since I was stationed here in Cape Girardeau and had shown so much interest, they didn't mind showing me around," Taylor said. "I got a great tour and a lot of background information."

The S.S. Cape Girardeau was built in 1968 at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co. in Virginia for the American Mail Line Shipping Co. It was named the S.S. Alaskan Mail, and it sailed 10 years as a cargo ship before being sold to the American Presidents Line, another commercial shipping company.

On April 11, 1978, the S.S. Alaskan Mail became the S.S. President Adams. It carried bulk cargo as well as highway-convertible shipping containers, making several round-the-world cruises before being sold to the government in 1988.

The vessel's third name was the S.S. Cape Girardeau, number TAK-2039, and it was placed under the U.S. Maritime Administration in the Ready Reserve Force fleet. These ships are named for capes throughout America.

"The administration just got to the Gs in the series, so they were looking for Cape G anything," Taylor said. "Cape Girardeau is a distinctive name."

The only other G-ship is the S.S. Cape Gibson, also docked in San Francisco Bay.

The Cape Girardeau saw action during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, steaming thousands of miles carrying ammunition, tanks and other vehicles used by American troops in the Persian Gulf. The Navy used ports in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain to unload the ship's cargo.

Before the Cape Girardeau could sail, however, Maritime Administration technicians worked around-the-clock to get it ready. Electronic communications and navigation systems had to be reinstalled; boilers and engines were prepared to run once again.

Meanwhile, an all-civilian merchant seaman crew was hired through union halls to operate the ship. On the fifth day after the activation order, S.S. Cape Girardeau and her crew of 21 steamed out of San Francisco harbor for sea trials and crew training. The ship and crew later took on war supplies at the Coronado Naval Weapons Station near San Diego.

After the conflict, the Cape Girardeau was overhauled in San Francisco. Now the ship can transfer cargo while still at sea, a unique capability for Ready Reserve Force ships.

The vessel is longer than two football fields, rising more than 14 stories above the water and extending 26 feet below the surface. Fully loaded with 1.1 million cubic feet of ammunition and cargo, it weighs the equivalent of 16,000 tons of water.

Taylor said the ship's dimensions will keep it from visiting its namesake town.

"The Mississippi River is just too shallow," he said. "Maybe it could have made it when the water was high, but then the top would have hit the bridges."

While the Cape Girardeau is dormant now, it could be activated in as little as 46 hours, said Leonard LaGrappe, ship caretaker.

Most recently, Ready Reserve Force vessels were used in support of armed forces in Somalia and Haiti. Fourteen are in the Caribbean assisting with Operation Uphold Democracy, which brought about the return to power of Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.