CIMSEC – The work carried out by hospital ships throughout the Western Hemisphere has proven invaluable and delivered tangible humanitarian benefit. SOUTHCOM and Latin American navies should consider supporting the construction of more of these assets. The many civilians whose ailments will be addressed by the medical personnel aboard these vital maritime assets will undoubtedly thank them.

USNI News – A summary of humanitarian relief efforts to Tonga.

The Guardian – Australia and New Zealand dispatch naval vessels carrying material to help provide temporary shelter and clean drinking water after volcanic eruption

USNI News – Three U.S. Navy ships and more Marine aircraft have joined in the U.S. effort for disaster relief in Haiti.

USNI News – The U.S. is preparing to send an amphibious warship to support the ongoing disaster relief efforts in Haiti following a massive earthquake that shook the island nation on Saturday.

USNI News – A West Coast amphibious warship transited the Panama Canal on Monday on a mission to support anti-narcotics operations in the Caribbean.

– Naval News – Several European navies have deployed vessels to provide disaster relief and humanitarian assistance following the catastrophic explosion at the port of Beirut.

– USNI News – Six weeks after arriving in Los Angeles to help regional hospitals cope with the COVID-19 outbreak, hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH-19) discharged its final patient on Tuesday, five days after it stopped receiving patients.

– USNI News – With an escort of water-spraying boats, hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH-20) pulled from a cruise ship terminal pier midday Thursday and departed New York Harbor for a return to its Virginia homeport on Saturday, after treating a total of 182 patients in New York City.

– Newsweek – William Arkin writes that with the National Guard now active in 22 states and governors continuing to declare more severe emergency measures daily, the U.S. military is preparing forces to assume a larger role in the coronavirus response, including the controversial mission of quelling “civil disturbances” and enforcing the law, a mission that the military has not engaged in for almost 30 years.

– USNI News – Over the weekend, amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD-5) joined the international effort delivering supplies, transporting U.S. relief personnel and providing medical evacuations from the Bahamas a week after Hurricane Dorian slammed into the island nation.

– Sky News – RFA Mounts Bay is providing humanitarian assistance in the Bahamas.

– USNI News – Navy hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) is expected in June to start a five-month Caribbean deployment to provide humanitarian and medical assistance to the region, notable to refugees flooding into Colombia from neighboring Venezuela.

– CIMSEC – USNS Comfort (T-AH-20) has finished another deployment to the Western Hemisphere as part of the Enduring Promise initiative. The U.S. hospital ship’s latest tour took it to Colombia, Ecuador, Honduras, and Peru where it provided free medical assistance to thousands of individuals in need. This is an example of medical diplomacy at work and a great initiative to improve U.S.-Latin American relations at a time when more cohesion among governments in the Western Hemisphere is needed.

– Reuters – Thousands are set to receive treatment this week from doctors and dentists from United States Navy hospital ship the USNS Comfort.

– USNI Blog – Humanitarian missions and defense support to civil authorities are two missions that are not going away. Although off-the-shelf solutions exist, it is time for the sea services to be bold and develop a vessel specifically to meet this need.

– CIMSEC – The military plays an integral role in dangerous humanitarian operations. What are these operations and how exactly does the humanitarian world work?

– USNI News – Amphibious assault ship USS Wasp (LHD-1) will join the Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group in Puerto Rico later this week with additional helicopters to assist with Hurricane Maria disaster relief efforts there.

– USNI News – Hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH-20) is steaming to Puerto Rico, as part of Hurricane Maria relief effort, just as federal officials stated only one of the island’s 69 hospitals is fully operational.

– Military Times – Federal and military aid for Puerto Rico increased Tuesday, including news that the hospital ship Comfort would be deployed, as officials got a clearer picture of the obscene destruction Hurricane Maria wrought on the U.S. territory.

– USNI News – Navy and Marine Corps are working to reopen airfields and clear debris from the main roads of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as part of the ongoing Hurricane Maria relief efforts.

– USNI News – Aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72), with embarked Carrier Strike Group 12 (CSG-12) staff and the guided-missile cruiser USS San Jacinto (CG-56), has left the Florida coast, having turned over the Navy’s sea-based Hurricane Irma relief efforts to Carrier Strike Group 10. Thursday night, Carrier Strike Group 10 – amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima (LHD-7), amphibious transport dock ship USS New York (LPD-21) and Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Farragut (DDG-99) – arrived in position off the coast of the Florida Keys.

– USNI News – Positioned off the coast of Florida, helicopters from USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) are now delivering food and water to Florida as part of the Hurricane Irma relief effort. USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7) and USS New York (LPD 21) are expected to join the relief effort Tuesday.