View source for Engineering:BAP Puno (ABH-306)

{{short description|Peruvian Navy hospital ship}}
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{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image= Puno (ex-Yapari) (5690588618).jpg
|Ship caption= BAP ''Puno'' in her namesake port of Puno
}}
{{Infobox ship career
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|Ship country= 
|Ship flag= {{flag|Peru|naval}}
|Ship name= ''Yapura'' (1872–1976)
|Ship owner= Peruvian Navy
|Ship namesake= Puno
|Ship ordered= 1861
|Ship builder= Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company 
|Ship laid down= 1861
|Ship launched= 1872
|Ship acquired=
|Ship commissioned= May 18, 1872
|Ship decommissioned= 
|Ship in service= 
|Ship out of service= 
|Ship renamed= BAP ''Puno'' since 1976
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|Ship reinstated= 
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|Ship status= In service
|Ship notes= 
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
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|Ship class= ''Yavarí'' class gunboat
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|Ship length= {{convert|100|ft|m|abbr=on}}
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|Ship speed= {{convert|10|kn|km/h}}<ref name=Comercio>{{cite web |url=http://elcomercio.pe/edicionimpresa/html/2007-11-11/condecoran_al_bap_puno_por_seg.html |title=Condecoran al BAP Puno por seguir prestando servicio |date=2007-11-11 |work=El Comercio |publisher=Empresa Editora El Comercio S.A. |accessdate=2011-05-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121001083529/http://elcomercio.pe/edicionimpresa/html/2007-11-11/condecoran_al_bap_puno_por_seg.html |archive-date=2012-10-01 |url-status=live }}</ref>
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|Ship notes= Capacity for 180 tonnes of cargo<ref name=Comercio/>
}}
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'''BAP ''Puno''''' is a Peruvian Navy [[Engineering:Hospital ship|hospital ship]] on [[Earth:Lake Titicaca#History|Lake Titicaca]]. Until 1976 she was called '''''Yapura'''''.

==History==
The Peruvian government ordered ''Yapura'' and her [[Engineering:Sister ship|sister ship]] ''Yavari'' in 1861.<ref name=Yavari>{{cite web |url=http://www.yavari.org/en/history |title=History of The Ship |work=Yavari - Lake Titicaca - Peru |publisher=The Yavari Project |accessdate=2011-05-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160108081657/http://www.yavari.org/en/history/ |archive-date=2016-01-08 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1862 Thames Ironworks on the River Thames built the iron-hulled ''Yavari'' and ''Yapura'' under contract to the James Watt Foundry of Birmingham.<ref name=Yavari/> The ships were designed as combined cargo, passenger and [[Engineering:Gunboat|gunboat]]s for the Peruvian Navy.<ref name=Yavari/> ''Puno'' has her original {{convert|60|hp}} two-cylinder steam engine, which is fuelled with dried llama dung.<ref name=Yavari/>

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.<ref name=Yavari/> Each piece was no more than 3.5.&nbsp;[[Hundredweight|cwt]]<!--not sure which type of cwt, so not convertable to more familiar units-->—what a mule could carry(C. 177kg)—because the railway from the [[Earth:Pacific Ocean|Pacific Ocean]] port of Arica went only {{convert|40|mi}}, as far as Tacna.<ref name=Yavari/> From there pack mules had to carry them the remaining {{convert|220|mi}} to Puno on the lake.<ref name=Yavari/>

The original British contractor got the parts to Tacna but failed to complete the section of the journey with mules.<ref name=Yavari/> This was not resumed until 1868 and ''Yapura'' was not launched until 1873.<ref name=Yavari/>

The War of the Pacific of 1879–83 impoverished the Peruvian government, so in 1890 UK investors established the Peruvian Corporation which took over operation of Peru's railways and lake ships.<ref name=Yavari/> In 1975 Peru nationalised the corporation and ''Yavari'' and ''Yapura'' passed to the state railway company ENAFER.<ref name=Yavari/> In 1976 they were transferred back the Peruvian Navy, who converted ''Yapura'' into a hospital ship<ref name=Comercio/> and renamed her BAP ''Puno''.<ref name=Yavari/>

==References==
{{reflist}}


[[Category:Gunboats|Puno]]

{{Sourceattribution|BAP Puno (ABH-306)|1}}