Pearl Harbor, a dock landing ship, usually transports Marines and their combat equipment to areas worldwide. The crew of approximately 425 is on a regularly scheduled deployment to the North Arabian Gulf as part of maritime security operations, or MSO, and it received orders to change course in order to load dump trucks, front-end loaders, backhoes, cargo trucks, a road grader, a forklift and a generator. “It was overnight," said Cmdr. Jonathan Harnden, commanding officer of USS Pearl Harbor. “They made the decision that they wanted to send this equipment late yesterday afternoon, and we were here first thing this morning.”