Last summer, the hospital ship USNS Mercy conducted a four-month goodwill tour to the Pacific Rim, with stops in the Philippines, Bangladesh, Indonesia and East Timor.

"We are well under way in planning for an operation this summer, that we refer to as Pacific Partnership, where we're going to undertake another humanitarian assistance deployment designed to continue to build the relationships upon which security and stability in the region depend," Adm. Gary Roughead, commander of U.S. Pacific Fleet, said during remarks at a Surface Navy Association meeting today in Washington D.C.

The deployment of the amphibious assault ship Peleliu is being coordinated with several nations and, like the Mercy hospital ship deployment, will be carried out in cooperation with several nongovernmental relief organizations, or NGOs.

Pacific Partnership represents our "commitment to the region and the maturation of a process that allows the U.S. Navy to respond effectively to disaster relief and humanitarian assistance unilaterally but most importantly, collectively, with other services, government agencies, NGOs and other nations," Roughead said.

The Peleliu, an aircraft carrier-like ship that normally carries several thousand Marines, helicopters and Harrier jump jets, also can support medical and humanitarian assistance needs and rapid response to a range of situations on short notice, the Navy said.

For this deployment, the Peleliu will be configured with special medical equipment and a specialized team of preventive medicine personnel, construction battalion personnel, engineering and civic assistance personnel, and a fleet surgical team.

Last summer, the Mercy's crew of military and civilian medical providers treated more than 60,000 people and performed more than 1,000 surgeries.

Among the onshore and on-ship locations where care was provided were Jolo, Zamboanga and Tawi-Tawi in the southern Philippines, where rebel activity makes humanitarian assistance difficult.

About 200 sailors, other military personnel and up to 300 individuals with NGOs took part in the humanitarian assistance mission.

The organizations volunteering aboard Mercy included 32 individuals from Aloha Medical Mission, most of whom were from Hawai'i; Project HOPE; Operation Smile; Tzu Chi Foundation; International Relief Teams; the University of California at San Diego Pre-Dental Society and others.