ALEXANDRIA, Va. (USTCNS) --- The Balakleya is a familiar silhouette and a favorite ship to the transporters of the 950th Transportation Co.

Although we were busy, we were glad to see it again in October when it stopped by Bremerhaven with a big load of equipment bound for Kosovo.

We like the Balakleya because it is a paradox of the ocean. It was built to carry main battle tanks of the old Soviet Union. These days, the Balakleya is privately owned and is often used for moving the equipment of American peacekeeping forces.

As we walk the ship's decks we muse how this giant ship of the sea is being put to good use - good use indeed.

When the Balakleya called this time, it was a busy time for us. We were working four ships at the same time from Oct. 11-14 - either in Bremerhaven or nearby Nordenham.

This trip, the Balakleya discharged 800 pieces of cargo for a task force of 10th Mountain Division American peacekeeping forces bound for Kosovo.

This vessel is one we remember well. It has huge cargo holds - the entrances are some 20-feet in diameter to allow entry of the main Soviet battle tanks. Unlike comparable American ships, the Balakleya was designed to carry hundreds of troops and had a sauna and gym specifically for their morale.

Meanwhile, in Nordenham, we were simultaneously discharging 20 M1 tanks from the Faust.

"These operations in Nordenham and Bremerhaven went on around-the-clock," said Maj. Robert Steigerwald Jr., commander.

Meanwhile, we had a very challenging discharge in Nordenham, located just across the Weser River from Bremerhaven. Our mission was to discharge 719 containers of ammunition from the Dutch vessel Singelgracht. These containers had to be segregated for six different locations in three different countries. We then had to load 150 of these containers for transshipment on two different vessels. We loaded some on the German coaster Bavaria bound for Norway and reloaded the remainder on the Singelgracht bound for Sweden.

The remaining containers were loaded on trains bound for U.S. Army Europe and U.S. Air Force Europe destinations in Southern Germany.

(Bram de Jong, Chief, Command Affairs, 598th Transportation Group, assisted in the preparation of this article.)

(FROM MILITARY TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT COMMAND PUBLIC AFFAIRS)