PORT HUENEME : Seabees Load Gear on Ship to Somalia

Seabees at Port Hueneme on Monday loaded 270 pieces of heavy equipment and 100 containers of supplies onto a ship bound for Somalia.

The ship, called the American Condor, is scheduled to depart this week and arrive in Somalia about four weeks later, Port Hueneme officials said.

The more than 600 Seabees from Port Hueneme who are going to Somalia will use the equipment--including bulldozers and forklifts--for paving roads and airstrips and other construction projects to support the U. S. military effort in the famine-stricken African country.

The first 19 Seabees from the base left last week. An additional 190 members of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 40 will leave later this week, carrying with them about 45 pieces of heavy construction equipment and 20 containers of supplies.

But the departure of the other 400 Seabees will be scheduled to coincide roughly with the arrival in Somalia of the Condor, navy officials said.

The 635-foot-long Condor is owned by a Florida shipping company but has been leased to the U. S. government for six months for the Somalia operation.