Ship Leaves Local Port for Duty in Persian Gulf : Port Hueneme: The Curtiss, which has a merchant crew, is equipped to repair Marine Corps aircraft. Two other vessels leave Los Angeles Harbor today.

A Navy ship equipped to repair Marine Corps jets and helicopters slipped out of Port Hueneme on Tuesday, the first of three military vessels from Southern California to head to the Persian Gulf since the conflict began, a Navy spokeswoman confirmed Wednesday.

The Curtiss, with a crew of 41 civilian merchant seamen, departed from its home port Tuesday afternoon, said Marge Holtz, director of public affairs for the Navy’s Military Sealift Command in Washington.

“We kept it quiet,” Holtz said. “The movements of ships are generally classified.”

Although the ship is berthed at the Naval Construction Battalion Center, Holtz said it did not depart with Seabees, the Navy’s construction engineers and tradesmen. “There would be no reason for them to be aboard,” she said. “It would be much easier to fly them to the Middle East.”

In addition to the Curtiss, two huge military supply ships were scheduled to leave Los Angeles Harbor for the Persian Gulf at daybreak today, becoming the first to leave San Pedro on a voyage one anxious merchant seaman described as “a lot more dangerous than usual.”

Though Navy and Defense Department officials would not disclose the specific assignments of the vessels, Cape Ducato and Meteor, they did confirm Wednesday that they are slated to join the Navy’s deployment in the Middle East.

Both vessels, cleaned and fueled in recent days at Terminal Island shipyards, will carry crews of about 40 merchant seamen. The ships reportedly will leave without military cargoes, scheduled instead to pick up equipment and supplies at one of several U.S. naval ports during their two- to three-week voyage to the gulf.

“Most of the people wish they weren’t going to a conflict like this,” said Mark Kalmus, a 32-year-old merchant seaman assigned to the Cape Ducato. “Shipping has been slow, so everybody is glad to have a job,” Kalmus said. “But this one could be a lot more dangerous than usual.”

Although these three ships are the first to be deployed from Southern California to the Middle East since the conflict began, three naval warships based in Long Beach and carrying about 900 sailors were already on duty in the region, said Lt. Cmdr. Steve Chesser, a Navy spokesman in Long Beach.

The Curtiss is initially headed for the Arabian Sea at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, Holtz said.

The Curtiss is one of two ships deployed this week by the Navy’s Military Sealift Command designed to repair Marine Corps aircraft damaged in the military’s Operation Desert Shield. President Bush deployed U.S. forces to the Middle East after Iraq invaded its neighbor Kuwait.

The Curtiss’ sister ship, the Wright, departed from its home port in Philadelphia earlier this week, Holtz said.

The Curtiss, which measures 602 feet by 90 feet, is a floating repair shop outfitted with cranes and spare parts for Marine Corps aircraft. The ship is capable of holding 300 troops, but Holtz said it departed without any. “She is carrying a tremendous amount of supplies for the Marine Corps,” she said.

The Curtiss is the only active-duty ship berthed at the deep-water harbor at Port Hueneme. The other Navy vessels docked in the harbor are retired World War II-vintage destroyers used for target practice by Navy jets.

Last week, the two Seabee units based at Port Hueneme were placed on alert and began preparing for the possibility of being dispatched to the Middle East to build facilities for U.S. forces deployed in the region.

Lt. Cmdr. Gene Okamoto of the Pacific Missile Test Center at Point Mugu said he had not heard of Navy aircraft transporting Seabees.

“We have not been flying out Seabees either,” said Col. Anthony Volante of the Channel Islands Air National Guard Base, which maintains a squadron of transport planes at Point Mugu.

Times staff writers Greg Krikorian and Marc Lacey contributed to this story.