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Graphic describing U.S. Navy hospital ship USNS Comfort medical assistance mission to six nations in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Overview
The U.S. Navy hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) deployed from June - August 2025 for the Continuing Promise 2025 mission.
During mission stops in Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Grenada, Panama and Trinidad and Tobago. Continuing Promise medical teams worked alongside partner nation medical personnel to provide direct patient care and technical expertise in community clinics to improve medical readiness, strengthen partnerships, and enhance the combined capabilities of the U.S. Navy and partner nations to respond to public health disasters and humanitarian crises.
The purpose of the deployment was to conduct the following types of engagements:
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Support the delivery of partner-led medical care in local community clinics.
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Side-by-side medical engagements in host nation medical facilities.
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Provide containerized clinic donations to partner nations.
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Biomedical equipment inspection and repair.
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Veterinarian engagements.
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Support partner-led and community-driven construction, building projects, and utilities inspections through Navy Seabee engineering engagements.
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Military-to-military training, subject matter expert exchanges, Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Relief (HA/DR) exercises.
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Navy Band community clinics, concerts, and military-to-military engagements.
The mission fostered goodwill, strengthened existing partnerships with partner nations, and encouraged the establishment of new partnerships among countries, non-federal entities, and international organizations.
About USNS Comfort & Crew
A U.S. Navy hospital ship like USNS Comfort has the capacity to provide afloat, mobile, acute surgical medical facilities to the U.S. military and partners.
The Continuing Promise team included a U.S. Army veterinary element from the 248th Medical Detachment (Veterinary Service Support), which collaborated with host nation colleagues to provide direct public health education and animal care at local veterinary organizations in-country. U.S. Navy Seabees from Navy Mobile Construction Battalion 11 assisted in host nation-led community engineering projects. U.S. Navy experts hosted seminars and training exercises with host nation civilian officials and military professionals covering disaster preparedness and response. These exchanges aimed to support host nation facilities, improve readiness, and empower local and national officials with the knowledge and experience to act with confidence during emergencies.
Continuing Promise 2025 utilized support from U.S. National Guard State Partnership Program (SPP) representatives at each mission stop. The SPP mission supports the security cooperation objectives of the United States and the Geographic Combatant Commands by developing enduring relationships with partner countries and carrying out activities to build partner capacity, improve interoperability, and enhance U.S. access and influence while increasing the readiness of U.S. and partner forces to meet emerging challenges.
Continuing Promise also featured the U.S. Fleet Forces Band, “Uncharted Waters.” The band embarked on USNS Comfort to conduct classes at community schools, collaborate with military and civilian musical organizations in partner nations, and entertain local communities with concerts at each mission stop.
Background
Continuing Promise 2025 was the 16th mission to the region since 2007 and the eighth aboard USNS Comfort.
Since 2007, Continuing Promise medical personnel have treated more than 601,000 people, and conducted more than 7,300 surgeries. When combined with all the veterinary services, subject matter expert exchanges, engineering projects, and community relations events, Continuing Promise has positively affected more people in our partner nations than any other U.S. Navy deployment in history.