ARA Libertad (Q-2)

Career (Argentina)
Name:	ARA Libertad (Q-2)
Owner:	Argentine Navy
Ordered:	11 December 1953
Launched:	30 May 1956
General characteristics
Displacement:	3,765 metric tonnes
Length:	103.75 metres hull 91.7 metres [1]
Beam:	14.31 metres
Draft:	6 metres
Propulsion:	2 × Sulzer diesel engine
Speed:	138 knots (256 km/h)
Complement:	24 officers, 187 crewmen, more than 150 cadets

ARA Libertad (Q-2) is a tall ship which serves as a school ship in the Argentine Navy. She was built in the 1950s at the Río Santiago Shipyard near La Plata, Argentina. Her maiden voyage was in 1962, and she continues to be a school ship with yearly instruction voyages for the graduating naval cadets.

Specifications

Her main characteristics are: Length (including bowsprit): 103.75m; Beam: 14.31m; Draft: 6.60m; Displacement: 3765 Tonnes; Masts: 3; Crew: 357 souls (including 150 naval cadets).

Rigging: Square rigged. Three masts (Fore, Main and Mizzen with boom) and bowsprit, with double topsails and 5 yardarms per mast, which can balance up to 45 degrees on each side. Five jibs are fixed to the bowsprit, the foremast has 5 square sails and two jibs, the mainmast has 5 square sails and 3 jibs and the mizzen has 5 square sails and a spanker. Sail area: 2.652 sq. metres; max. height of mainmast 56,2 metres.

Armament: Four Hotchkiss 47 mm cannons, 1891 model, which were transferred from the previous School Ship ARA Presidente Sarmiento and are used as a salute battery.

History

She won the Boston Teapot Trophy in 1966, 1976, 1981, 1987, 1992 and 1998

In 1966 she established the world record for transatlantic crossing (only sail navigation) between Cape Race (Canada) and Dursey Island (Ireland), 1,741.4 nautical miles (3,225.1 km) in 6 days and 4 hours. The Commander of the ship was Commander Ricardo Guillermo Franke, and the Boston Teapot was given away by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh in name of Queen Elizabeth II, because she refused to do so, since the Captain's rank was not Admiral.^{[citation needed]}

She participated in the celebrations of the United States Bicentennial on July 4, 1976 by sailing in parade, with many other tall ships from all over the world, on the Hudson River, in front of New York City in what was called Operation Sail. Many spectators on the shores gave their backs to the ship, as well as to the Chilean Esmeralda, because these countries were then administered by dictatorships.^{[citation needed]}

Mid-life overhaul

In April 2007 she underwent a general overhaul which includes the addition of facilities for female cadets and crew in line with current diversity policies in the Navy and the updating of the engines and navigation technology. During the year Libertad was under overhaul, Argentine cadets sailed on the Chilean Navy school ship Esmeralda (BE-43)

Gallery

• 

  In full sail

• 

  Anchored off the coast of Tybee Island, Georgia in July 1998

• 

  Atlantic Ocean in May 2007

• 

  Detail of the bowsprit and the figurehead while docked at Mar del Plata naval base

See also

• List of large sailing vessels
• List of tall ships

References

Bibliography

• Guia de los buques de la Armada Argentina 2005-2006. Ignacio Amendolara Bourdette, ISBN 987-43-9400-5, Editor n/a. (Spanish/English text)
• Libertad en el Mar - La reparación de media vida de la Fragata ARA Libertad. Armada Argentina, Author n/a, ISBN n/a, Editor n/a. (Spanish/English text)

External links

• Argentine Navy official site, specifications and brief history (in spanish)
• Tall ship review
• Haze Gray: Tall Ships 2000