US Navy ship 'Dubuque' to take part in humanitarian mission to South Pacific

[Stacey King]

Sandiego.com

The San Diego-based amphibious transport dock ship Dubuque will be heading to the South Pacific on a humanitarian aid mission later this year, the Navy's Pacific Fleet command said last week.
The mission, called Pacific Partnership 2009, will visit Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Samoa, the Solomon Islands and Tonga. The duration and departure date were not announced, but similar missions in the past three years have left San Diego in late spring and lasted five months.

Civilian charities from the United States and other Pacific Rim nations will travel aboard the Dubuque to give medical and dental assistance to people in the countries the ships visit. The Navy's announcement said this year's mission will focus more heavily on construction and engineering projects.

A Navy hospital ship from San Diego, the Mercy, was involved in similar trips in 2006 and 2008, and the amphibious assault ship Peleliu deployed in 2007. Such voyages have become regular events since 2005, when the United States enjoyed a public relations boost for sending aid to southern Asia after a devastating tsunami.

In 2007, the Navy made the trips one of its core missions and pledged to visit Pacific Rim countries with medical aid at least once a year.