ARM Cuauhtémoc

ARM Cuauhtémoc is a Mexican Navy three-masted barque. Launched in 1982, she is used as a sail training vessel.

== History == Cuauhtémoc is the last of four sister ships built by the naval shipyards of Bilbao, Spain, in 1982, all built to a design similar to the 1930 designs of the German firm Blohm & Voss, like Gorch Fock, USCGC Eagle, and NRP Sagres. Built at the Celaya Shipyards in Bilbao, she was designed by naval engineer Juan José Alonso Verástegui. Her keel was laid on 24 July 1981, and she was delivered to the Mexican Navy at Bilbao on 19 July 1982. A crew of cadets from the Mexican Naval Academy received the ship and brought Cuauhtémoc to Mexico. Like her sister ships, Colombia's ARC Gloria, Ecuador's BAE Guayas and Venezuela's Simón Bolívar, Cuauhtémoc is a sailing ambassador for her home country and a frequent visitor to world ports, having sailed over 400,000 nautical miles (700,000 km) in her 43 years of service, with appearances at the Cutty Sark Tall Ships' Races, the American Sail Training Association Tall Ships Challenges, Sail Osaka, and others. Following her collision with the Brooklyn Bridge in May 2025, Cuauhtémoc has since returned to service, visiting Victoria, Canada, in September 2026. On September 23, she arrived in San Francisco.

Incidents

=== Collision with Portugalete suspension bridge === In 2007, while transiting the El Abra route down the Bilbao estuary in Spain, the mainmast collided with the suspension bridge in the municipality of Portugalete. There was only minor damage to the top of the mainmast. There were no injuries and the ship was not stopped. The maneuver was a calculated risk by the local authorities since all boats had to clear the 45-metre (148 ft) bridge. The height of Cuauhtémoc was 45.5 metres (149 ft 3 in) and normally the maneuvers are done at high tide, so the local pilots coordinated everything to avoid mishaps. A similar collision also happened to the Portuguese training ship NRP Sagres in 2000.

=== Disappearance of a cadet === On 11 June 2017, a cadet fell overboard from the ship during a sail maneuver near Mumbai, India. Despite intensive searches coordinated between Mexico and India, she was not located. In the vessel's 35 years of service up to that point, this was the first fatal incident.

Brooklyn Bridge collision

On the evening of 17 May 2025, during the training cruise that began on 6 April 2025, Cuauhtémoc's three masts collided with the Brooklyn Bridge. At least 19 of the people aboard were injured, four critically. A search and rescue operation was launched. Two of the injured subsequently died.

== Crest == The body of the shield is made up of two concentric circles: the exterior, like a cord of abacá, suggests the ship's rigging, the tool necessary for the crew to raise and lower the sails. The inner circle serves to concentrically divide the total circumference of the body. The internal part of these carries in its center the silhouette of Cuauhtémoc on her port side and with all the rigging, sailing to the west, driven by the wind, represents her first trip to Mexico from Spain. In the ring formed by the two circles there are two inscriptions: reading Armada de México (Mexican Navy) on the top, and Buque Escuela Cuauhtémoc (Cuauhtémoc School Ship), on the bottom. The same ring offers, at the eastern point, the figure of the wind god Ehécatl, who with his breath propels the ship to the west. At the setting point appears the Sun of the evening twilight; at the north point, interspersed in the inscription, the sidereal stars that make constant knowledge of their position possible. Finally, in the upper part of the body, the eagle of the Mexican Coat of Arms, which recalls the origin of the ship and its strength.

Figurehead

The figurehead depicts Cuauhtémoc, the last Aztec emperor and namesake of the vessel. The name of this ship represents the warlike lineage of the Aztec emperor, who was also known for his bravery and his love of poetry. It was sculpted by Juan de Ávalos, considered one of the Spanish sculptors with the greatest passion for the human body.

Cruises

Gallery

== References == American Sail Training Association; Sail Tall Ships! (American Sail Training Association; 16th edition, 2005 ISBN 0-9636483-9-X)

External links

Official Website of the Mexican Navy (in Spanish) American Sail Training Association Archived 18 July 2017 at the Wayback Machine Four slideshows with Cuauhtémoc from the Tall Ships' Races 2007 in Aarhus, Denmark by Thorsten Overgaard The Cuauhtémoc at Hanse Sail 2007 in Warnemünde, Germany