USNS MERCY

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Hospital ship USNS Mercy on standby for sailing to Philippines

The hospital ship USNS Mercy, which has been used in disaster relief before, is on standby. "We have not as yet been tasked to activate Mercy, but should that order come, we could have the ship ready to go in five days or less," said Commodore Mike Taylor, who heads up the Military Sealift Command which oversees Mercy. The hospital ship is part of Pacific Partnership, which began after the 2004 disaster in Sri Lanka and Indonesia. "It's because of Pacific Partnership, when we've already visited many of those island in the Pacific that when a crisis does occur, it makes everything so much smoother," said Commodore Wally Lovely, who headed up the 2013 effort where USS Pearl Harbor was the lead U.S. ship along with five others from different host nations.

US Navy to send hospital ship USNS Mercy to Asia

The US Navy is sending the USNS Mercy, one of its two hospital ships, on a goodwill mission to Southeast Asia next month, seeking to build partnership with regional militaries. The Military Sealift Command hospital ship will leave its San Diego homeport on May 1, to begin Pacific Partnership 2012 to strengthen regional relationships in Southeast Asia and Oceana, Navy Capt. James Morgan said Tuesday at a Pentagon briefing. The Pacific Partnership exercise is in its seventh year, and this year will visit Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Cambodia to provide medical, dental and veterinary care. The ship will spend 14 days at each port. It is the largest annual humanitarian civic assistance mission the United States sponsors in the Asia-Pacific region. Source : Chinadaily