The hospital ship Mercy will dock at Pearl Harbor on May 8 for a two-day visit before traveling to four Pacific Rim nations to carry out humanitarian missions this summer.

The Mercy is part of a six-ship flotilla that will take a contingent of military medical, dental and engineering personnel, and civilian volunteer specialists to Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia and Timor-Leste.

Joining the Mercy on missions to Vietnam, expected on May 31, and Cambodia will be a Japanese Oosumi-class amphibious ship.

When the Mercy docks in Indonesia, it will be met by an Indonesian ship, KRI Dr. Soeharso.

The Mercy will be the solo vessel at Timor-Leste.

An Indonesian news service, Antara, said the Mercy will support the “;Surya Baksara Jaya”; health services operation, which will be conducted at seven villages in Ambon and Maluku July 29-Aug. 3. The floating hospital will offer its health services at Mamala, Morella, Liang, Waai, Tulehu, Passo and Hutumuri villages on the island of Ambon.

Two other Navy ships will visit Papua New Guinea and Palau. The Pearl Harbor-based frigate USS Crommelin and Australia's HMAS Manoora will visit New Guinea, while the USS Blue Ridge will lay over at Palau.

This summer's humanitarian mission is the fifth in a series of annual U.S. Pacific Fleet civic endeavors, known as Pacific Partnership 2010, to the Western Pacific and Southeast Asia.

Navy Adm. Patrick Walsh, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, said, “;The world we live in today is more interconnected than before, and we have learned that by working together we are better prepared to overcome challenges such as natural disasters. Partnership and cooperation are key to success in a crisis.”;

The Navy said that during the past four years, Pacific Partnership has provided a variety of medical, dental, educational and preventive medicine services to more than 150,000 patients in 10 countries. More than 70 engineering projects in more than a dozen countries have included school refurbishment and construction of entirely new clinics for remote villages.

However, unlike past missions, civilian physicians, nurses and dentists from the Aloha Medical Mission will not be participating.

Mercy, one of two hospital ships in the Military Sealift Command, is commanded by Merchant Marine Capt. David Bradshaw. The Mercy's sister ship—USNS Comfort—remains in Haiti, providing hospital and medical capacity for that shattered nation.

This year's medical missions will be led by Capt. Lisa Franchetti, who commands Destroyer Squadron 21 in San Diego. Navy Capt. Jeffrey Paulson, a medical officer, will command the military treatment facility aboard Mercy.

The 894-foot-long, 69,000-ton ship is a former oil tanker converted into a floating hospital. It is equipped with a helicopter flight deck, specialized laboratories, 12 operating rooms, an 80-bed intensive-care unit and enough beds for 1,000 patients.