When the USS Cleveland set sail Wednesday morning, the amphibious transport ship had some precious cargo on board.

About 200 family members, friends or former service members joined the ship’s nearly 400 sailors for the Arrival of the Fleet, a kickoff event for the Seafair celebration in Seattle.

And for Gwen Coughenour of Freeland, the parade of ships was a chance to see where her godson Philip Greene works.

Navy. Lt.j.g. Greene is a communications officer on the USS Cleveland, a 570-foot-long warship based in San Diego, Calif.

“We are so proud,” Coughenour beamed with pride as she talked about her godson.

Her insider connection gave Coughenour and Greene’s parents, Karen and John, a special tour of the ship, including an exclusive look at the officer quarters, as the ship circled in the Sound south of Seattle.

“The protocol is so interesting,” Coughenour said.

It amused her to see how the captain’s living quarters and lifeboat was marked by red paint and wood rails instead of steel or chain, while the enlisted sailors’ areas are marked blue and much less comfortable.

Like other civilians who sailed with the Cleveland for the annual Arrival of the Fleet, Coughenour ate in the galley with the sailors.

The menu included breaded chicken filets, sausages, chili, chocolate cookies and Lay’s potato chips.

“This is the food you get. It was better than I thought,” she said with a laugh.

Coughenour said she now understands why sailors appreciate a home-cooked meal.

She also visited the bridge and the communication towers and got to see the high tech equipment Greene works with every day.

“He is in charge of communications here. He showed us the radio and radar stuff,” she said. “I asked: ‘Does anybody know how to fix this?’ He just laughed and said yes,” Coughenour said.

Called to serve

Of course, the duties of the highly skilled Naval Academy graduate are a bit more complicated. But communications on the ship are pretty much under Greene’s command, he said.

“I am responsible for everything that goes on and off the ship,” Greene said.

He joined the Navy in 2000.

“I always felt a sense of duty. I had a privileged life and I wanted to return something,” he said.

The USS Cleveland is used to transport Marines and equipment to their destination and launch them, he said.

It’s a combat taxi of sorts for more than 400 Marines. A huge garage makes up much of the ship’s innards, and can be filled with boats, amphibious assault vehicles and landing craft. The back end of the ship can be opened up, and trucks and fighting vehicles can roll off a ramp and into action, or the inside can be flooded with water to take on or deploy small boats.

“It’s the same principle they used in World War II adapted to modern technology,” he said. “We get pretty close to the shore.”

The ship also has a flight deck for helicopters. It travels as a part of a battle group during deployments.

It’s Greene’s first assignment, and he has been on the Cleveland for a year. Most of that time, the ship was at sea and had just returned from a seven-month-long deployment.

“We took Marines to Iraq,” he said.

Eight of the Marines did not return from their mission in Iraq.

“Two of those guys were officers,” Greene recalled. “It was really hard on all the officers to lose somebody you’re next to every day.”

The experience brought the reality of the Iraq conflict close to all aboard. A plaque in the galley remembers the eight comrades lost.

The crew of the Cleveland also delivered earthquake relief to Pakistan.

“We delivered 22 tons of relief supplies,” Greene said.

Life on deployment is tough, however.

“I work 15-, 16-hour days. I stand watch about eight hours on the bridge,” he said.

Cruising thousands of miles away from friends and relatives in the world’s most dangerous crisis areas can be taxing, too.

“Being away from home is hard,” he said.

Even so, there are ways to keep in touch with the folks back home.

“We can call home on a satellite phone every once in a while,” he said. “But e-mail works best. Everybody has e-mail. It’s good to be able to say ‘How are you doing, guys?’”

Watching her godson in action was a great experience for Coughenour.

“It’s great to see him like this,” she said, adding that the mature, poised officer she sees now is different from the boy she saw growing up.

His mother, Karen Greene, recalled when she first realized her son’s determination to succeed in the Navy.

“He was badly injured just before he entered the Naval Academy and he couldn’t start. It was bad,” she said.

“I went to see him in the hospital. He was in good spirits. He said: ‘If you can’t laugh, you can’t get through it.’ He reapplied and got in a second time,” Greene.

The USS Cleveland was the lead ship in the Arrival of the Fleet, which also included the USS Chung-Hoon and the USS Milius, two Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers from Pearl Harbor and San Diego.

The parade of ships was an impressive sight for those on board and those watching from the Seattle shoreline.

At 1:30 p.m., all sailors assembled on the flight deck and the upper decks in their dress whites to “man the rails.”

As the sailors stood at the rails, saluting, the Blue Angels blew over the ship.

Lt.j.g. Greene, though, was hard at work.

“Philip is also in charge of communications when the Blue Angels fly over,” Coughenour explained.

Besides sailors’ families and representatives from Navy Leagues throughout the region, the USS Cleveland also welcomed other guests aboard for the parade. One was Doug Arbogast, a “plank owner” who served on the ship when it first set sail.

“I was on two cruises with the Cleveland, both to Vietnam,” he said.

The 39-year-old USS Cleveland first saw action during the Tet Offensive in Vietnam in 1967 and has since embarked countless Marines and Navy commandos into combat. It has also supported humanitarian efforts and was involved in drug patrols and anti-piracy efforts.

Arbogast said the ship still looks the same, but the guns and technology have changed.

Other civilian sailors on Wednesday’s cruise included two 9-year-old Navy experts.

“The tour was really cool. We got to talk to all the sailors,” said Jared Maier.

His twin brother, Lucas, knew all about the ship.

“It’s my first time on a Navy ship. We went inside the ship and it can drop the back. A door opens and they can take a ship in and soldiers,” he said.

This year’s Seafair fleet was made up of seven ships, including a Coast Guard buoy tender and three Canadian Navy ships.

Infobox

It’s a small world

Before becoming the commanding officer of the USS Cleveland, Capt. Frank McCulloch reported to VA-95 on Whidbey Island as the squadron maintenance officer.

He also served with the squadron VAQ-130 in the late 1990s, and was the commanding officer of the “Zappers” when the Whidbey-based Prowler squadron deployed on the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman’s maiden voyage.