USNS Mercy (T-AH-19)

On 27 February 1987, Mercy began training while en route on a humanitarian cruise to the Philippines and the South Pacific. The staff included U.S. Navy, Indian Navy, U.S. Army, and U.S. Air Force active duty and reserve personnel; United States Public Health Service; medical providers from the Armed Forces of the Philippines; and MSC civilian mariners. Over 62,000 outpatients and almost 1,000 inpatients were treated at seven Philippine and South Pacific ports. Mercy returned to Oakland, California, on 13 July 1987.

On 9 August 1990, Mercy was activated in support of Operation Desert Shield. Departing on 15 August, she arrived in the Persian Gulf on 15 September. For the next six months, Mercy provided support to multinational allied forces. She admitted 690 patients and performed almost 300 surgeries. After treating the 21 American and two Italian repatriated prisoners of war, she departed for home on 16 March 1991, arriving in Oakland on 23 April.

Mercy being refuelled at sea by USNS Tippecanoe, April 2005 during the ship's mission to aid people following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami

USNS Mercy departed San Diego on 5 January 2005 en route to the tsunami-devastated regions of Southeast Asia, where she provided medical care to the victims of the disaster as part of Operation Unified Assistance, and further care as part of Theater Security Cooperation Program 2005. Combined, she provided over 107,000 patient services, rendered by members of the Department of Defense, Project HOPE, and the United States Public Health Service.[6]

Mercy anchored off Jolo, Philippines in June 2006

USNS Mercy departed San Diego in 2006 as the inaugural deployment of Pacific Partnership, an ongoing Civic Assistance mission designed to "Prepare in Calm to Respond in Crisis". She visited several ports in the South Pacific Ocean including the Philippines, Indonesia, and Banda Aceh. The ship's primary mission was to provide humanitarian assistance to these countries, and its staff included several non-governmental organizations, doctors from the armed services of several countries, as well as active-duty and reserve military providers from many branches of the US Armed Forces.

Mercy anchored in Dili, East Timor, as part of Pacific Partnership 2008

USNS Mercy departed San Diego on 14 April 2008 for Pacific Partnership 2008, a four-month humanitarian and civic deployment in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Mercy, with its 900 officers and sailors, included 300 US health and construction experts. Partners participating in the mission included the nations of Australia, Canada, Chile, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, and Portugal, as well as several non-governmental organizations.[7] Originally intended to visit the Philippines, Vietnam, the Federated States of Micronesia, East Timor, and Papua New Guinea, USNS Mercy was to be redirected to the Bay of Bengal to provide immediate assistance to victims of the cyclone in Burma, but relief efforts in Burma were called off. On 10 June, the humanitarian mission was temporarily suspended after one of its helicopters was shot at in the strife-torn southern Philippines area of Mindanao. Over the course of the deployment, Mercy would treat 91,000 patients, including performing 1,369 surgeries.

JDS Kunisaki (LST-4003), two Japanese Landing Craft Air Cushion hovercraft and USNS Mercy (T-AH-19) during Pacific Partnership 2010

On 24 February 2010, the Commander of the US Pacific Fleet announced that Mercy will be the lead vessel of Pacific Partnership 2010, a continuation of the recurring humanitarian mission to Southeast Asia and Oceania.[8] For Pacific Partnership 2010 Mercy visited Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, and East Timor; treated 109,754 patients, and performed 1,580 surgeries.

3 May 2012 saw Mercy depart San Diego once again for Pacific Partnership 2012,[9] the latest deployment of the Pacific Partnership series. In an effort to further expand the scope of the mission of "Preparing in Calm to Respond in Crisis", many more man hours of Subject Matter Expert Exchange (SMEE) with host nations, Veterinary Care, and construction projects were performed compared to past Mercy deployments, building the capacity of host nations to respond to regional disasters in a coordinated manner. The ship visited Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Cambodia carrying personnel not only from the Department of Defense, but also 13 partner nations and 28 non-governmental organizations.[10]

The National Conflict Resolution Center honored the master and crew of hospital ship USNS Mercy with its 25th annual Peacemaker Award for its participation in Pacific Partnership (2012).[11]

In mid-November 2013, Mercy was ordered to activate for Operation Damayan, the relief effort in response to the devastation caused by Typhoon Haiyan, which struck the Philippines on 7 November 2013. However, Mercy was deactivated before sailing.[12][13]

The US Navy announced that Mercy would be participating in RIMPAC 2014, a large multi-national naval exercise involving ships and personnel from 23 countries. In addition to providing real-world afloat acute medical and surgical care to personnel injured during the exercise, Mercy participated in multi-lateral Subject Matter Expert Exchanges with other military medical professionals. In addition, Mercy steamed with Peace Ark, the hospital ship from the People's Republic of China during phases of the exercise.[14]

Ten years after the relief effort for victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami, US Pacific Fleet announced that Mercy would once again participate in Pacific Partnership. Focusing on Subject Matter Expert Exchanges and Community Health Engagements, Pacific Partnership 15 looks to continue the mission of helping nations in the region "Prepare in Calm to Respond in Crisis". Countries hosting Mercy include Fiji, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and Vietnam.[15]

Celebrating 10 years of Pacific Partnership, US Pacific Fleet announced that Mercy would continue to participate in the ongoing series of Disaster Preparedness missions. Focusing on local Subject Matter Expert Exchanges, Pacific Partnership 16 continues to "Prepare in Calm to Respond in Crisis". Countries that have invited Mercy include East Timor, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam.[16]

US Pacific Fleet announced that Mercy would set sail to Sri Lanka for Pacific Partnership 2018.[17]

The United Seamen's Service at its annual Admiral of the Ocean Sea Awards (AOTOS) event honored the masters and crews of hospital ship USNS Mercy with Special Recognition Mariner's Plaque for its participation in Pacific Partnership (2018).[18]

Mercy arriving in Los Angeles on 27 March 2020

From March until May 2020, Mercy was deployed to Los Angeles to provide hospital relief in response to COVID-19.[19][20] The ship arrived and docked at the Port of Los Angeles cruise ship terminal on 27 March 2020,[21] and departed on May 16.[20] The ship's mission was to treat patients other than those with COVID-19, freeing up land-based hospitals to deal with the virus.[22] The deployment mirrors USNS Comfort's simultaneous mission to support New York's COVID-19 response.[23] As of 15 April, Mercy had treated 48 patients, of whom 30 have been discharged.[24] Seven crew members have tested positive for the virus and been removed from the ship for quarantine; 100 other sailors who had contact with them were also removed for quarantine.[25][24] She arrived back in San Diego on 15 May.[20]

On 31 March 2020, while Mercy was docked, a Pacific Harbor Line freight train was deliberately derailed by its onboard engineer in an attempt to crash into the ship, but the attack was unsuccessful.[26][27] According to U.S. federal prosecutors, the train's engineer "was suspicious of the Mercy, believing it had an alternate purpose related to COVID-19 or a government takeover".[28] The train came to a stop approximately 750 feet (230 m) from the ship after destroying several barriers and suffered a substantial fuel oil leak requiring cleanup from fire fighters and hazardous materials personnel.[28] No one was injured and the ship was not harmed; the engineer was charged with train wrecking.[29]