The BAP Unión is a training ship of the Peruvian Navy. It is a four-masted steel hulled full rigged barque built in 2014 by Shipyard Marine Industrial Services of Peru, known as SIMA. In June 2015, the ship received its masts and propeller; and the interior fitout began in charge of contractors Acopafi and MO Contract. Also, according to an agreement between SIMA and Navantia, the ship was provided with an “Integrated Control System Platform, Navigation and Communications”. The ship’s name honors a Peruvian corvette that took part in the first stage of the 1879-1883 War of the Pacific as part of a naval squadron under the command of Miguel Grau, the most important hero of the Peruvian Navy. Like other similar ships, the Unión has been conceived not only for training purposes, but also to be a sailing ambassador for her home country. Due to its features and dimensions, it has been considered (as of the date it was commissioned) as the largest sail vessel in Latin America.
On January 27, 2016 the BAP Unión was commissioned in an official flag raising ceremony held on its deck and attended by Peruvian president Ollanta Humala, the Minister of Defense and the General Commander of the Navy. This act meant the ship was placed in active service. As the first commander of the ship was designated Captain Gianfranco Polar Figari, who performed in June 2016 the sea trial of the vessel. The BAP Unión’s first training cruise abroad began on July 27, 2016. The set sailing ceremony was attended by the President of the Council of Ministers, Pedro Cateriano, Minister of Defense, Jakke Valakivi, Minister or Foreing Affairs, Ana María Sanchez and the Commander of the Navy, Admiral Edmundo Deville, among other authorities. The journey, which was officially named as “VIEX 2016”, acronym in Spanish of “Viaje de Instrucción al Extranjero 2016” (Training Trip Abroad 2016), had a length of three months, in which the Union crew was visited the ports of Guayaquil (Ecuador), Cartagena (Colombia), San Juan (Puerto Rico), La Habana (Cuba), Miami (United States), Veracruz (Mexico) and Balboa (Panama), before to returning to its base in Callao. During the travel and in the places visited, the navy cadets and the crew received instruction in naval exercises and maneuvers, as well as showing people abroad several elements of Peruvian culture.
The ship’s figurehead was made of bronze by the Peruvian sculptor Pilar Martínez Woodman, and it features several symbols of the Inca culture that previously existed in what is now Peru. As the main element it shows the image of the Sapa Inca (emperor) Tupac Yupanqui, known as “The Shining”, who appears with his right arm raised to the image of the Inca sun god Inti; and who is placed over a representation of the archeological artefact known the twelve angle stone. The Sapa Inca wears a checkered cloth and a cape that depicts ocean waves. He also wears two puma heads (the puma was a sacred animal in Inca culture) as knee guards. His head is adorned with the mascapaicha (the Inca crown); and the shield he holds has the image of two rhombuses that represent the Inca Empire, known as Tawantinsuyu.
Due to its use as a training ship, the Unión’s interior includes an auditorium, a library, a computing platform and classrooms to instruct cadets in astronomic navigation; meteorology; oceanography; hydrography; and naval operations and maneuvers.
