Restored Uruguayan navy training schooner returns to Montevideo

An Uruguayan navy training schooner arrived in Montevideo on Friday after being restored in October and completing two months of port calls in Brazil and Argentina.

Government authorities and family members were on hand to welcome the 73-person crew of the Capitan Miranda, which had been out of service since 2010.

Defense Minister Jorge Menendez told reporters he was thankful that the vessel was back in Uruguay after representing the South American country internationally.

“It’s a very satisfying day for us. A little over two months ago, the Capitan Miranda took to sea on a tour of different ports, around 10 Brazilian and Argentine ports,” after having been in our shipyards for a long time, he said.

Menendez recalled that the Defense Ministry had been tasked with reconstructing the vessel, built in 1930 as a survey ship and converted to a training schooner in the late 1970s, and said the work carried out by the navy and Uruguayan state companies had left the ship in “optimal condition.”

Uruguay’s government invested $6 million to return the Capitan Miranda to international waters.

The repair work began in April 2013 and involved replacing the ship’s propellers, shaft lines, main engine, engine room pumps, air conditioning equipment, generators, black water systems and pipes and valves, as well as inspecting its hull and superstructure.