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Hospital Ship to Conduct Pacific Partnership 2008

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS080131-12
Release Date: 1/31/2008 4:53:00 PM

From U.S. Pacific Fleet Public Affairs

PEARL HARBOR (NNS) -- Preparations are under way to deploy the Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) on a humanitarian mission to the Western Pacific and Southeast Asia in support of Pacific Partnership 2008, the commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet announced, Jan. 29, in Sydney, Australia.

"Building on a successful Mercy deployment in 2006 and [USS Peleliu (LHA 5)] Pacific Partnership last summer, Mercy will again embark international medical, dental and engineering teams this summer to provide humanitarian support in Southeast Asia," Adm. Robert F. Willard said in a speech on U.S. Maritime Strategy.

"A Cooperative Strategy for the 21st century seapower," was delivered at the Royal Australian Navy Sea Power Conference 2008. Willard said that by sending this uniquely capable ship is one way to demonstrate our commitment to the Asia-Pacific region and to work together with our friends and partners.

The deployment is being coordinated with several nations and will be carried out in conjunction with non-governmental relief organizations. A number of military and civilian agencies are planning the myriad details that go into a months-long mission of focused medical, dental and civic-action programs to provide humanitarian assistance to nations in the Asia-Pacific region. Specific locations for the ship's relief operations will be announced at a later date.

Mercy is uniquely capable of supporting medical and humanitarian assistance needs and can rapidly respond to a range of situations on short notice. In 2006, Mercy performed a similar mission in Southeast Asia. That deployment resulted in the treatment of almost 200,000 patients in the Republic of the Philippines, Indonesia and Bangladesh.

In 2007, Peleliu, an amphibious ship, conducted a four-month humanitarian mission, visiting the Philippines, Vietnam, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and the Republic of the Marshall Islands. During these humanitarian missions, Peleliu provided a variety of medical, dental, educational and preventive medicine services to more than 31,600 patients.

These humanitarian missions build international relationships and represent a core task in this "Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower." With missions such as Pacific Partnership, the Navy seeks to mitigate human suffering, both in a deliberate, proactive fashion and in response to crises.

For this deployment, Mercy is being configured with special medical equipment and a robust medical team of uniformed and civilian health care providers to provide a range of services ashore as well as on board the ship.

The San Diego-homeported ship can support various services such as casualty reception, optometry, physical therapy, burn care, and radiological, laboratory and dental services.