The number of naval personnel increased by more than 100 percent and the marines by 150 percent during the 1980s, more rapidly than any other military service. The increase has resulted from the completion during that decade of a modernization program begun during the early 1970s. By the end of the 1980s, the Peruvian Navy had replaced that of Chile as the third largest in Latin America, behind only Brazil and Argentina.
The Peruvian Navy is composed of the Pacific Naval Force, the Amazon River Force and the Titicaca Lake force. By far the most important is the Pacific fleet, with several units, including six submarines, one cruiser, two destroyers, four missile frigates, and six missile attack craft.
Most of the ships of the fleet are based at the Callao Naval Base; there is also a base at Talara in Piura. The Amazon River Force had four river gunboats and some twenty small craft, most of them at the main base at Iquitos, with a subsidiary facility at Madre de Dios. The Lake Titicaca Patrol Force, based at Puno port, about 12,000 feet above sea level, is composed of a dozen small patrol boats plus the Hospital Ship “B.A.P. Puno”, built in England in 1862, yet still in service.
The greatly expanded Marine Infantry of Peru includes an amphibious brigade and finally the youngest force, the FOES or Special Operation Forces, the Peruvian version of the US Navy Seals.
Six submarines gave Peru a very important underwater fleet in Latin America. These six modern submarines belong to the 209 class and were built for Peru in West Germany. All are conventionally powered with eight twenty one-inch torpedo tubes and had a crew of five officers and twenty-six technicians and enlisted personnel. The other submarines are U.S.-made Guppi and Mackerel class.
The cruiser is the former Netherlands Admiral De Ruyter purchased in 1973 and renamed as Almirante Grau. It is the flagship of the fleet. The Almirante Grau was reconditioned in the late 1980s to include eight surface-to-surface Otomat-missiles, in addition to its eight 152-mm surface guns and 57-mm and 40-mm antiaircraft guns. She has a crew of 953, including forty-nine officers.
Peru has two destroyers, the British made Ferre and Palacios, each refitted to accommodate eight Exocet missile launchers and a helicopter deck in addition to their regular armament of six 114-mm guns and two 40-mm antiaircraft guns.
The Navy also has four modern Lupo-type frigates: Carvajal, Villavisencio, Mariategui and Montero, and six fast missile attack craft: Velarde, Santillana, de los Heros, Herrera, Larea and Sanchez Carrión. Two of the frigates were built in Italy, while the other two sister ships were constructed at the Callao Naval Base under license to the Maritime Industrial Service (Sima-Peru) and launched in the early 1980s. Equipment and armament for each included an Agusta Bell 212 helicopter, eight Otomats, two batteries of surface-to-air missiles, and a 127-mm gun. The six missile attack craft, each equipped with four Exocet missiles, were built in France for Peru. These ships are the most important component of Peru's surface navy because of their speed, versatility and recent construction.
There is also a Naval Air Force with sixty aircraft, fixed and rotary wing.
SOURCE: U.S. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS AND DIRECCION DE INTERESES MARITIMOS, PERUVIAN NAVY.
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