Navy Hospital Ship to Deploy on Humanitarian Mission

The San Diego-based Navy hospital ship USNS Mercy is scheduled to deploy Tuesday for a four-month humanitarian mission to four Asian nations.

The vessel will visit Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam in the seventh year of a program called Pacific Partnership, according to the Navy. The goal of the program is to build relationships that will help in the event of a natural disaster.

“A lot of planning and coordination among host and partner nation governments and military, civilian organizations and agencies has gone into getting us to this point,” said Capt. James Morgan, the mission commander. “We're ready to deploy and conduct the mission on a theme of 'preparing in calm to respond in crisis.”

Crew members on the Mercy will provide medical, dental and veterinary care in the host nations, and help with civil engineering projects.

Pacific Partnership also includes personnel from the Army, Air Force and Marine Corps; U.S. State and Justice departments, Agency for International Development and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association.

Japan will contribute a landing ship, helicopters, a medical team and representatives from the country's volunteer organizations.

Australia, Canada, Chile, France, Korea, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand will also deploy personnel in support of the mission.

Other organizations scheduled to take part include the UC San Diego Pre- Dental Society, a student-run free dental clinic; Project Hope, which launched the first civilian hospital ship, LDS Charities; and the University of Hawaii.

The USS Vandergrift .

– City News Service