Cape Texas in choppy seas.

• Author: Caponiti, James E.
• Position: Readers forum - Letter to the Editor

We at the Maritime Administration were pleased to see the article in the July 2003 edition of National Defense, "Navy's Sealift Command Picks Up the Pace," by Harold Kennedy, noting that cargo moved much faster in the recent Iraqi conflict than it did in 1991. That is something we know to be true, and we think it needed to be said. The article, however, contained some errors.

For instance, the caption under the ship's picture in the paper edition of the magazine, a picture not included in the electronic version, describes the ship as the MV Cape Texas, a Military Sealift Command roll-on/roll-off ship. The Cape Texas is a Ready Reserve Force ship, owned and maintained by the Maritime Administration. The ship in the picture is not the Cape Texas, bur the Spica, which is a Military Sealift Command ship, and is identified as such by the yellow and blue stack stripes. All RRF ships, including the Cape Texas, have red, white mad blue stack stripes.

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