page_title: ARA Libertad (Q-2)
section_title: Trophies and notable voyages
hierarchical_section_title: ARA Libertad (Q-2) / History / Trophies and notable voyages
caption_attribution_description: Fragata ARA Libertad
context_page_description: ARA Libertad (Q-2) is a steel-hulled, full-rigged, class "A" sailing ship that serves as a school vessel in the Argentine Navy. One of the largest and fastest tall ships in the world, holder of several speed records, she was designed and built in the 1950s by the Río Santiago Shipyard, Ensenada, Argentina. Her maiden voyage was in 1961, and she continues to be a training ship with yearly instruction trips for the graduating naval cadets as well as a traveling goodwill ambassador, having covered more than 800,000 nautical miles across all seas, visited about 500 ports in more than 60 countries, and trained more than 11,000 navy graduates.
context_section_description: In 1964 the frigate competed for the first time in a major offshore race for tall ships between the ports of Lisbon and Hamilton, Bermuda.
  In 1965 she completed her first round-the-world trip.
  In 1966, during her fourth instruction voyage, ARA Libertad won the Great Medal Prize for establishing 
  the tall ships' world record for crossing the North Atlantic Ocean using only sail propulsion. She did so by running between Cape Race (Canada) and the imaginary line going from Dublin to Liverpool –2,058.6 nautical miles (3,812.5 km)– in 8 days and 12 hours, a record that has not been beaten. During the same trip, she also set the 124-hour run record for a sail school ship at 1,335 nautical miles, for which she was awarded the Boston Teapot Trophy. The captain was Commander Ricardo Guillermo Franke, and the Boston Teapot was presented by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh in name of Queen Elizabeth II.Libertad has won the Boston Teapot Trophy nine times in total: in 1966, 1976, 1981, 1985, 1987, 1992, 1998, 2000, and 2007.
  In 1970 she was part of the "Parade of Large Sailboats" in Sydney celebrating the bicentenary of the first European settlement in Australia.
  The ship took part 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. She also participated in 1964, 1986, 1992 and 2012.
  During 1976's Operation Sail the Spanish ship Juan Sebastián Elcano collided with Libertad and with the full-rigged, three masted Norwegian ship Christian Radich just off the coast of Bermuda. The collision snapped Elcano's foremast just above the forecourse yardarm, forcing her to abandon the race and return to New York under engine power. Libertad suffered only light damage (two torn sails, smashed lifeboats and port rail) and, like Christian Radich, continued in the competition without problems.
  In 1985 raced in "Sail Amsterdam" in the Netherlands and in the celebrations for the  Statue of Liberty centenary in New York City. 
  One year later Libertad sailed in Bremerhaven in Germany. 
  In 1989, among many events, she was part of "Les Voiles de la Liberté" for the bicentennial of the French Revolution in the port of Rouen, France.
  In 1992 was part of the great Cadiz regatta in commemoration of the 500 anniversary of Columbus' 1492 voyage.
  In 1997 she sailed in the international race "Sail Osaka 97" in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the port of Osaka, Japan.
  In 1998 Libertad won Americas' Sail tall ship race between Savannah, Georgia and Glen Cove, New York, United States.
  In 1999 took part in the gathering of tall ships "The Navy of the Century" in France.
  By presidential decree number 727 (May 30, 2001) the frigate was designated as "Embassy of the Republic as a matter of honorary distinction and with purely protocolar effect".
  On 2 October 2003, she caught fire while anchored off the Spanish port of Ferrol during that year's training trip. The incident severely damaged the ship's hull and bedrooms of aspiring midshipmen, and five sailors were hospitalized for smoke inhalation. Three fire fighting squads brought the fire under control after three hours. Following this incident, between 2004 and 2006 the instructional trips were made aboard the multipurpose ship Hercules.
  ARA Libertad participated in Velas Sudamerica 2010, an historical Latin American tour by eleven tall ships to celebrate the bicentennial of the first national governments of Argentina and Chile.
caption: Libertad in 2003 sailing away with furled lower sails
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