The Navy said its Pacific Partnership humanitarian mission will be conducted from the USNS Richard E. Byrd, a Military Sealift Command replenishment ship.

The USNS Richard E. Byrd will fill in for the USS Dubuque, which was relieved of the mission on May 5 after swine flu was confirmed aboard the amphibious transport dock ship.

The Navy said it used "an abundance of caution" in removing the Dubuque from the mission. At least 17 sailors on the San Diego-based ship have tested positive for swine flu. Additional Dubuque crew members who exhibited flu-like symptoms were being tested for the virus.

This year's Pacific Partnership is the fourth in a series of annual U.S. Pacific Fleet humanitarian missions to the western Pacific that are intended to develop positive relations and deter terrorism.

The Pacific Partnership mission team and much of its equipment and supplies are scheduled to depart San Diego in early June on board USNS Amelia Earhart, another replenishment ship.

The mission team and its supplies will be transferred at sea to the Richard E. Byrd somewhere west of Hawai'i. The Amelia Earhart will not be stopping in Pearl Harbor en route, officials said.

"We are pleased to be able to continue on with Pacific Partnership and meet our commitments to the host nations," said the Pacific Partnership 2009 mission commander, Capt. Andrew Cully. "After reviewing the available Navy assets and their capabilities, USNS Richard E. Byrd proved to have more than enough storage space for equipment and supplies necessary to support the mission."

The Navy said Pacific Partnership will visit all five nations originally announced: Samoa, Tonga, Solomon Islands, Kiribati and Marshall Islands.

The USNS Byrd has a crew of 124 civil service mariners as well as a military detachment of 11 sailors who provide operational support and supply coordination, the Navy said.

In 2008, the USNS Mercy, one of the Navy's two hospital ships, conducted a four-month humanitarian mission, visiting the Republic of the Philippines, Vietnam, the Federated States of Micronesia, Timor-Leste and Papua New Guinea.

The Pacific Partnership 2008 team provided a variety of medical, dental, educational and preventive medicine services to more than 90,000 patients.