The amphibious ship USS Peleliu left San Diego last week and is expected at Pearl Harbor tomorrow on its way to a humanitarian mission to Southeast Asia and Oceania.

The "Pacific Partnership" brings together medical personnel and nongovernmental organizations to provide medical, dental, construction and other humanitarian assistance programs, and is a follow-up to last year's successful mission by the hospital ship USNS Mercy.

The four-month deployment is expected to include stops in the Philippines, Vietnam, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and the Marshall Islands.

At least 19 volunteers with the Honolulu-based Aloha Medical Mission will participate in different segments of the mission, and the organization is looking for more, said executive director Butch Dela Cruz.

"Our goal is to provide medical services to people who have no healthcare, so we're going to help these underserved countries at these ports," Dela Cruz said.

The Aloha Medical group includes doctors, nurses and medical technicians.

Last year in the Philippines, Aloha Medical Mission volunteers performed 300 surgeries and saw more than 2,000 patients.

The Mercy also made stops in Bangladesh, Indonesia and East Timor, and its crew of military and civilian medical providers treated more than 60,000 people and performed more than 1,000 surgeries.

Project HOPE and dental students from the University of California, San Diego, also are volunteering with the latest humanitarian mission.

Peleliu, an aircraft-carrierlike ship that normally carries several thousand Marines, as well as helicopters and Harrier jump jets, also can support medical and humanitarian assistance needs and rapid response to a range of situations, 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.

The same flexibility and configuration that makes Peleliu an effective warship also makes it an effective ship for performing humanitarian assistance missions, officials said. Small boats and helicopters will transport those going ashore.

The Navy said the four-month deployment by the Peleliu "continues the long tradition of U.S. Navy support of humanitarian-assistance operations throughout the world and reflects American compassion for the people of the Western Pacific region with whom Americans share common bonds."

The deployment is seen as a way to strengthen the good will that was forged between the U.S. and host nations during previous assistance missions, such as the 2004 earthquake and tsunami relief efforts.

Peleliu will visit areas based on host-nation agreements, medical and engineering priorities and where port or anchorage facilities can support the mission, the Navy said.

The Pacific Partnership humanitarian mission is commanded by Capt. Robert Stewart, commander, Destroyer Squadron Thirty One. The commanding officer of USS Peleliu is Capt. Ed Rhoades. The medical contingent commander is Capt. Scott Flinn, force surgeon, commander, Naval Surface Forces.

Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com.