Peruvian Navy, in collaboration with the Spanish Navy, has commissioned their new training ship Unión. The commissioning ceremony, attended by the Spanish Minister of Defense and the Chief of Naval Staff, took place January 27.
As of July 2014, a Spanish Navy officer and a non-commissioned officer (NCO) were assigned to the Peruvian Navy as instructors/advisors during the shipbuilding process of the Unión.
From September 2014 to July 2015, the Spanish Navy servicemen advised on the drafting of the ship’s handbooks and organized courses on maneuver and navigation at Callao Naval Base. The Spanish Navy also collaborated with the local shipyards in the design and construction of the ship’s rigging and other aspects of the sailing vessel.
The Spanish Navy said it would continue working with their Peruvian counterparts until October 2016, participating in the sea trials with the prospective crew, and the subsequent training cruise of the first midshipmen.
The 115-meter BAP Unión is a four-mast steel hulled ship built in 2014 by the state-run Shipyard Marine Industrial Services of Peru. According to the shipbuilder, the BAP Unión is the largest vessel of its kind in Latin America