The NRP ''Sagres'' is a

tall ship A tall ship is a large, traditionally- rigged sailing vessel. Popular modern tall ship rigs include topsail schooners, brigantines, brigs and barques. "Tall ship" can also be defined more specifically by an organization, such as for a race or fe ...

and school ship of the Portuguese Navy since 1961. As the third ship with this name in the Portuguese Navy, she is sometimes referred to as ''Sagres III''.

Design and specifications

The ship is a steel-built three masted barque, with square sails on the fore and main masts and gaff rigging on the mizzen mast. Her main mast rises above the deck. She carries 22 sails totaling about and can reach a top speed of under sail. She has a sparred length of , a width of , a draught of , and a displacement at full load of .

Ship history

The three-masted ship was launched under the name ''Albert Leo Schlageter'' on 30 October 1937 at

Blohm & Voss Blohm+Voss (B+V), also written historically as Blohm & Voss, Blohm und Voß etc., is a German shipbuilding and engineering company. Founded in Hamburg in 1877 to specialise in steel-hulled ships, its most famous product was the World War II battle ...

in Hamburg for Nazi Germany's ''

Kriegsmarine The (, ) was the navy of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official branches, along with the a ...

''. The ship was named after

Albert Leo Schlageter Albert Leo Schlageter (; 12 August 1894 – 26 May 1923) was a World War I veteran and German ''Freikorps'' member who became famous for acts of post-war sabotage against French occupation forces. Schlageter was arrested for sabotaging a secti ...

, who was executed in 1923 by French forces occupying the Ruhr area. Her first commander was

Bernhard Rogge Bernhard Rogge (4 November 1899 – 29 June 1982) was a German naval officer who, during World War II, commanded a merchant raider. Later, he became a Konteradmiral in West Germany's navy. Rogge became a ''Vizeadmiral'' (vice-admiral) by the end ...

. ''Sagres'' is a sister ship of the ''Gorch Fock'', the ''Horst Wessel'', and the Romanian training vessel ''Mircea''. Another sister, ''Herbert Norkus'', was not completed, while ''Gorch Fock II'' was built in 1958 by the Germans to replace the ships lost after the war. Following a number of international training voyages, the ship was used as a stationary office ship after the outbreak of World War II and was only put into ocean-going service again in 1944 in the Baltic Sea. On 14 November 1944 she hit a Soviet

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...

off Sassnitz and had to be towed to port in Swinemünde. Eventually transferred to

Flensburg Flensburg (; Danish, Low Saxon: ''Flensborg''; North Frisian: ''Flansborj''; South Jutlandic: ''Flensborre'') is an independent town (''kreisfreie Stadt'') in the north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg is the centre of the ...

, she was taken over there by the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

when the war ended and finally confiscated by the United States. In 1948, the U.S. sold her to Brazil for a symbolic price of $5,000 USD. She was towed to Rio de Janeiro where she sailed as a school ship for the Brazilian Navy under the name ''Guanabara''. In 1961, Ambassador Teotónio Pereira of Portugal, who was also a man of the sea, loved sailing ships, and had been an organizer of the first Tall Ships’ Race, persevered in his mediations and the Portuguese Navy bought the ''Guanabara'' to replace the previous school ship ''Sagres'' (which was transferred to Hamburg, where she is a museum ship under her original name '' Rickmer Rickmers''). The Portuguese Navy renamed ''Guanabara'' as ''Sagres'' (the third ship of that name), where she remains in service to this day. In 2010, the ship performed her longest voyage, a round the world trip performing an approximate total of 35000 miles, under the command of CMG Pedro Proença Mendes. The ship left

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

on 19 January and returned on 24 December, having participated in

Velas Sudamerica 2010 ''Velas Sudamerica 2010'' or ''Regata del Bicentenario Velas Sudamerica 2010'' or, more commonly, ''Regata del Bicentenario'', was a 2010 historic tall ship gathering and touring of Latin America to celebrate the bicentennial of the first nation ...

, a historic Latin American tour by eleven tall ships to celebrate the bicentennial of the first national governments of Argentina and Chile. She also took part in the Expo Shanghai, among other events during that year. The ship has sailed under the Portuguese flag since 1962. For that reason, in 2012 there were major commemorations of her 75th anniversary and 50 years in the service of the Portuguese navy.

Sister ships

* ''Gorch Fock'' (ex-''Tovarishch'') * USCGC ''Eagle'' (ex-''Horst Wessel'') *''

Herbert Norkus Herbert Norkus (26 July 1916 – 24 January 1932) was a Hitler Youth member who was killed by German Communists. He became a role model and martyr for the Hitler Youth and was widely used in Nazi propaganda, most prominently as the subject of ...

'', never completed * ''Mircea'', Romanian sail training ship * ''Gorch Fock II''

Gallery

File:Portuguese tallship NRP Sagres.png, Line art of the ''Sagres'' File:NRP Sagres 1.jpeg, ''Sagres'' during Harborfest '82 File:Sagres II Opsail 2000 Crop.JPG, The ''Sagres'' at OpSail 2000 File:Sagres-MDQ.jpg, ''Sagres'' at dock in

Mar del Plata Mar del Plata is a city on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the seat of General Pueyrredón district. Mar del Plata is the second largest city in Buenos Aires Province. The name "Mar del Plata" is a s ...

, Argentina, February 2010 File:Embarque del NRP Sagres.jpg, Decorative buoy, ''Sagres'' File:Buque 515 construido por "Blohm & Voss". NRP SAGRES. Portugal.jpg, ''Sagres''' builders' plaque File:Visita al Buque Escuela NRP Sagres de La Armada Portuguesa en Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (14280935517).jpg, ''Sagres'', view from aboard

References

External links