The old girl finally rounding the ‘Horn
Last week, the “most beautiful ship in the world,” the Italian navy’s historic nave scuola (training ship) Amerigo Vespucci (A5312), performed one of the most traditional of nautical tasks for a tall ship, passing Cape Horn.
Somehow, in her long and varied career that has chalked up hundreds of thousands of miles underway, it was the first time the vessel cleared the Drake Passage.
Built at the Royal Shipyard of Castellammare di Stabia and running some 329 feet in length over the bowsprit, Vespucci’s main mast towers 177 feet into the air and, when fully rigged, she carries up to 26 canvas sails.
She recently celebrated her 90th birthday and set sail last July on a 20-month, 40,000-mile world cruise that will see the Italian ship dock at over 31 ports in 28 nations, visiting 5 continents.
Italian Navy F-35Bs and AV-8B Pluses fly in formation over Amerigo Vespucci as she departs from Genoa, on July 1, 2023, for her 2023-25 World Tour
But how do the Italian navy cadets stuck behind at the Accademia navale di Livorno train for the next few years while the old girl is away? Well, the academy has long maintained a 1:1 scale model of her fore and main masts on its quarterdeck, of course, just to keep those landlocked mids up to speed.
