_(5690588618).jpg) BAPPuno in her namesake port ofPuno | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Peru | |
| Name | Yapura (1872–1976) |
| Namesake | Puno |
| Owner | Peruvian Navy |
| Ordered | 1861 |
| Builder | Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company |
| Laid down | 1861 |
| Launched | 1872 |
| Commissioned | May 18, 1872 |
| Renamed | BAPPuno since 1976 |
| Status | In service |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Yavarí class gunboat |
| Displacement | 140 tons |
| Length | 100 ft (30 m) |
| Speed | 10 knots (19 km/h)[1] |
| Notes | Capacity for 180 tonnes of cargo[1] |
BAPPuno (ABH-306) is aPeruvian Navyhospital ship onLake Titicaca. Until 1976 she was calledYapura. She is named after theYapura River (or Caqueta River) that flows into theAmazon River inDepartment of Loreto, Peru. The Yapura river was the former border between Peru and Colombia in the Amazonia. It was an iron steam ship commissioned (along with her sistershipYavarí) by the Peruvian government in 1861 for use on the lake by thePeruvian Navy. She is one of the oldest operational iron-hulled ships in the world, and is the oldest first-line military ship.
The Peruvian government led byRamón Castilla orderedYapura and hersister shipYavari in 1861.[2] In 1862Thames Ironworks on theRiver Thames built the iron-hulledYavari andYapura under contract to theJames Watt Foundry ofBirmingham.[2] The ships were designed as combined cargo, passenger andgunboats for thePeruvian Navy.[2]Puno has her original 60 horsepower (45 kW) two-cylinder steam engine, which is fuelled with driedllama dung.[2]
The ships were built in "knock down" form; that is, they were assembled with bolts and nuts at the shipyard, dismantled into thousands of parts small enough to transport, and shipped to their final destination to be assembled with rivets and launched on the lake. The kits for the two ships consisted of a total 2,766 pieces between them.[2] Each piece was no more than 3.5. cwt—what a mule could carry(C. 177 kg)—because the railway from thePacific Ocean port ofArica went only 40 miles (64 km), as far asTacna.[2] From there pack mules had to carry them the remaining 220 miles (350 km) to Puno on the lake.[2]
The original British contractor got the parts to Tacna but failed to complete the section of the journey with mules.[2] This was not resumed until 1868 andYapura was not launched until 1873.[2]The Peruvian Corporation carried out two important remodellings to the original ship: between 1927 and 1929 it elevated the propeller, taking care not to spoil its gauge; and in 1956 it changed the old engine for a Paxman Ricardo of English manufacture (1948) with 12 cylinders in V, with a power of 410 HP allowing a speed of 10 knots.
On May 2, 1873, the "Yapurá" sailed for the first time in the Titicaca Lake under the command of corvette captain Manuel Mariano Melgar.
Even though peace had already been signed with theTreaty of Ancón between Peru and Chile to end theWar of the Pacific on October 20, 1883, Rear AdmiralLizardo Montero and GeneralCésar Canevaro resisted in Arequipa. Pursued by Chilean forces, they retreated toPuno and negotiated more support from Bolivia. Upon reaching Puno, on the shore of Titicaca, they boarded with their men the steam gunboats Yavarí and Yapurá, to sail towards the lake port of Chililaya, in Bolivia, where GeneralNarciso Campero was waiting for them with two Bolivian battalions to resume hostilities against Chile.
However, a Chilean division arrived in Puno on November 4, 1883 and its local authorities immediately handed over the place, declaring themselves in favor of peace and the government of Miguel Iglesias. The Chilean forces transported by rail from the port ofMollendo to Puno thetorpedo boatColo Colo and launched it into the waters of Lake Titicaca, where it carried out patrolling operations to prevent communications, control the guerrillas and the military use of the lake.[clarification needed]
By the end of the war the Peruvian government was impoverished, so in 1890 UK investors established thePeruvian Corporation which took over the concession to operate Peru's railways and lake ships.[2] In 1975 Peru nationalised the corporation andYavari andYapura passed to the state railway companyENAFER.[2] In 1976 they were transferred back the Peruvian Navy, and renamed as BAPPuno, the name of the locality of its Base port, and assigning it to passenger and cargo transportation tasks and as a Coast Guard of lake naval force. In 1993, theBAP Puno was converted into a hospital ship[1] and renamed BAPPuno.[2]