Frigate ARA Libertad-Argentine Navy’s training ship to visit St Lucia

Castries, St Lucia: The government of St Lucia shared an update on the schedule of the Argentine Navy’s training ship, Frigate ARA Libertad, which is expected to visit the country between May 26 and 28, 2022. The visit will be commenced as part of its 50th Training Voyage. 

On April 30, 2022, the Frigate departed Buenos Aires and landed at the port of Fortaleza in Brazil. It happened after St Lucia was scheduled to visit the countries including the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Mexico, the United States of America, Ireland, Frace, Spain, Salvador and Brazil. It further returned to Buenos Aires in September of 2022. 

As per the information served by Angel Dalmazzo, who is Charge d’Affaires of the Embassy of Argentina, this is a great and historic opportunity for both country and the OECS region as it offers a chance to deepen and stronger their relationship and encourages the cultural exchanges. 

In addition to that, despite the commencement of the various activities programmed by St Lucian authorities, Dalmazzo stated that the vessel would be opened to the general public on May 27 between 2 and 5 pm. It will welcome all citizens and tourists to come aborad and know about the history and life on broad with the crew. 

The Frigate is a steel-hulled, full-rigged, class “A” sailing ship which holds several records and is known as one of the largest and fastest tall ships in the world. It served as a school vessel in Argentine Navy. Río Santiago Shipyard, Ensenada, Argentina, designed the Frigate, which was built in the 1950s. 

The name of the design of the Ship is archetypal windjammer which has a clipper bow and a wood-carved figurehead which represents Liberty in a long flowing robe and a cruiser stern bearing the Argentine cost of arms in cast Bronze. 

The Ship’s maiden voyage was built in 1961, and it continued to hold the position of the training ship with yearly instructions trips for the people who graduated in naval. It is also used by the travelling goodwill ambassador, having covered more than 800,000 nautical miles (1,500,000 km) across all seas, visited about 500 ports in more than 60 countries, and trained more than 11,000 navy graduates.