Hospital Ship’s 1st Voyage Will Aid Philippines

The Navy hospital ship Mercy, berthed at the Broadway Pier, will depart San Diego Feb. 27 on its shakedown cruise, a four-month training and humanitarian tour to the Philippines.

The tour is designed to train the ship’s civilian and military crew in operating and supplying the vessel in remote areas, said Lt. Cmdr. Deborah Burnette. Burnette said the cruise will also provide an opportunity to help meet “the medical training and care needs of the Philippine people.”

Commanded by Capt. Richard Hosey, the Mercy will carry more than half of its full complement of 1,200 personnel for the Philippine cruise. Burnette said the ship would be manned by about 700 U.S. civilian and military personnel, including about 50 Filipinos.

A crew of 60 to 65 civilians in the Military Sealift Command will pilot the nearly 900-foot vessel and operate its engines.

Another contingent of about 250 to 270 Navy personnel will operate the ship’s boats, helicopter, administrative and communications offices, deck and food services.

The Mercy’s medical contingent, composed of Army, Air Force, Navy and Public Health Service officials, is under the command of Capt. Donald Sturtz. It includes 61 doctors and dentists, 60 nurses, 20 medical support officers and 215 medical enlisted personnel.

The first port the Mercy will make in the Philippines will be the U.S. Naval Base at Subic Bay, where it will take on stores before visiting other ports.

Before each port visit, an advance medical party will screen Filipino patients, who will have been pre-screened by Filipino doctors.

A shore detachment will be dispatched to each port and will provide most of the treatment that is expected to take place. “Only people scheduled for minor surgery and X-rays that can’t be accomplished ashore” will be treated aboard the Mercy, Burnette said.

The Mercy and the Comfort, which is scheduled to be put into operation later this year, are the first two hospital ships the Navy has operated since the Vietnam War era. Both of the former supertankers were converted by National Steel & Shipbuilding Co. in San Diego at a total cost of $510 million.

It is the first time since before the Korean War that the Navy has maintained a hospital ship in peacetime.