NRP Sagres

Type

Bark

Period

20th Century

Nation

Portugal

Overview: NRP Sagres is a three-masted steel barque that has served as the Portuguese Navy's sail training ship since 1961, and is the third Portuguese Navy vessel to bear the name. She is one of the Gorch Fock-class sister ships built in Germany in the 1930s, making her a close relative of the Gorch Fock and US Coast Guard's Eagle, a family very popular among tall-ship modelers. 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, with her main mast rising 42 m above the deck. She has a sparred length of 89 m, a beam of 12 m, a draught of 5.2 m, and a full-load displacement of 1,755 long tons, carrying 22 sails totaling roughly 2,000 square meters of sail area and capable of about 17 knots under sail. Service History: The ship was launched under the name Albert Leo Schlageter on 30 October 1937 at Blohm and Voss in Hamburg for the German Kriegsmarine, and was seized as war reparations by the United States after WWII, then sold to Brazil in 1948 and renamed Guanabara. In 1961 Ambassador Teotónio Pereira helped broker the Portuguese Navy's purchase of the ship to replace the earlier Sagres (II), the former Rickmer Rickmers, which was retired and later became a museum ship in Hamburg under its original name. Notable Facts: The Portuguese Navy describes Sagres as the most decorated ship in its fleet, and notes that its main mission is to represent the Navy and the country, functioning as a travelling embassy during official visits and commemorations. In 2010 she completed a major round-the-world voyage of roughly 35,000 miles, participating in events such as Velas Sudamerica 2010 to mark the bicentennial of Argentina and Chile's first national governments.