ARC Gloria

The ARC Gloria is a training ship and official flagship of the Colombian Navy.

The history of the sailing ship ARC Gloria begins in 1966, when the Colombian Government, by means of Decree Number 111, authorized the National Navy, with Vice Admiral Orlando Lemaitre Torres as its commander, to acquire a three-masted barque as a training ship of the Colombian Navy.

It is said that at that time in many meetings at work or in social events with the military leadership the favorite topic of Admiral Lemaitre was the need for a training ship. His enthusiasm and clear ideas encouraged General Gabriel Reveiz Pizarro, the Colombian Defence Minister, to support the project by taking a napkin and writing on it, "vale por un velero" ("worth one sailboat") and signing it.

After this strange "pact" a formal contract was signed with the Spanish shipyard Celaya of Bilbao on 6 October 1966, and began to be fulfilled in April 1967. The ship was commissioned on 7 September 1968 with the vessel moored at the wharf of Deusto Channel.

The ship's name is a reference to the national anthem, Oh gloria inmarcesible (O Unfading Glory).