Juan Sebastián de Elcano is a training ship for the Royal Spanish Navy. It is a four-masted topsail, steel-hulled barquentine (schooner barque). At 113 metres (371 ft) long, it is the third-largest tall ship in the world, and is the sailing vessel that has sailed the furthest, covering more than 2,000,000 nautical miles (3,700,000 km; 2,300,000 mi) in its history.

It is named after Spanish explorer Juan Sebastián Elcano, captain of Ferdinand Magellan's last exploratory fleet and the man who completed the first circumnavigation of the world. The ship also carries the Elcano coat of arms, which was granted to the family by Emperor Charles I following Elcano's return in 1522 from Magellan's global expedition. The coat of arms is a terraqueous globe with the motto "Primus Circumdedisti Me" (meaning: "First to circumnavigate me").

Contents

1 Build and design

2 Maiden voyage

3 Naval Commanders of Juan Sebastián Elcano

4 See also

5 References

Build and design

'Juan Sebastián de Elcano' was built in 1927 in Cadiz, Spain, and its hull was designed by the naval architect Mr C E Nicholson of Camper and Nicholsons Ltd of Southampton. Constructed by Echevarrieta y Larrinaga shipyard[4] in Cadiz. After the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic in April 1931 the ship became part of the Spanish Republican Navy.

In 1933 under Commander Salvador Moreno Fernández's order, a series of improvements were made to the ship and the bronze plate with the Latin language inscription Tu Primus Circumdedisti Me was placed near the prow. At the time of the coup of July 1936 Juan Sebastián Elcano was at Ferrol, a harbor that had been taken by the Nationalist faction. Its plans were used twenty-five years later to construct its Chilean sail training vessel sister ship Esmeralda in 1952-1954.

Maiden voyage

Its first voyage was sea testing between April and July that year from Cádiz to Malaga, with King Alfonso XIII on board as a passenger, and then on to Sevilla, Las Palmas, Tenerife, San Sebastián, Cádiz, São Vicente, Cape Verde, Montevideo, Buenos Aires, Cape Town, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Suva, San Francisco, California, Balboa, Panama, Havana, New York City, Cádiz.[5]

Naval Commanders of Juan Sebastián Elcano

Commanders that have been in charge of Juan Sebastián Elcano for crossings and instruction.[6]

Manuel de Mendivil y Elio. 29 September 1927

Claudio Lago de Lanzos y Díaz. 4 June 1929

Joaquín Lórez Cortijo. 5 June 1931

Salvador Moreno Fernández. 7 June 1933

Cristóbal González-Aller y Acebal. 24 June 1935

Fernando Meléndez Bojart. 15 December

Pedro Sans Torres. 20 December 1940

Camilo Carrero Blanco. 17 January 1942

Antonio Blanco García. 24 November 1942

Leopoldo Boado Endeiza. 27 June 1944

Manuel de la Puente y Magallanes. 18 July 1946

Álvaro de Urzáiz y de Silva. 15 July 1948

Luis Cebreiro Blanco. 3 August 1950

Gonzalo Díaz García. 15 July 1952

José Yusty Pita. 19 August 1953

José Ramón González López. 20 July 1955

Miguel Domingo Sotelo. 27 August 1958

José Díaz Cuñado. 26 September 1960

Teodoro de Leste y Cisneros. 22 December 1961

Francisco Javier de Elizalde y Laínez. 6 August 1963

Salvador Vázquez Durán. 18 November 1964

Francisco Gil de Sola Caballero. 17 August 1966

Álvaro Fontanals Baron. 20 September 1968

Agustín Rosety Caro. 1 August 1970

Ricardo Vallespín Raurell. 28 September 1971

Marcial Fournier Palicio. 1 September 1973

Antonio Nalda y Díaz de Tuesta. 26 September 1975

Ángel Luis Díaz del Río y Martínez. 3 October 1977

Ignacio Cela Diz. 3 de October 1979

Cristóbal Colón de Carvajal y Maroto. 7 January 1981

Rafael Ceñal Fernández. 30 October 1982

Manuel de la Puente y Sicre. 19 August 1983

Antonio Diufain de Alba. 23 August 1984

Rafael Martí Narbona. 15 November 1985

Gabriel Portal Antón. 10 July 1987

José Alejandro Artal Delgado. 25 November 1988

Pedro Lapique Quiñones. 3 October 1989

Rafael Vallejo Ruiz. 4 October 1991

Ángel Tajuelo Pardo de Andrade. 1 October 1992

Juan José González-Irún Sánchez. 8 October 1993

Antonio González-Aller Suevos. 4 October 1994

Manuel Calvo Freijomil. 15 September 1995

Sebastián Zaragoza Soto. 18 September 1996

Teodoro de Leste Contreras. 2 October 1997

Constantino Lobo Franco. 11 September 1998

Juan C. Muñoz-Delgado Díaz del Río. 8 October 1999

Jaime Rodríguez-Toubes Núñez. 6 October 2000

Manuel Rebollo García. 5 October 2001

Santiago Bolívar Piñeiro. 4 October 2002

Juan F. Martínez Núñez. 3 October 2003

Luis Cayetano y Garrido. 29 September 2004

Salvador M. Delgado Moreno. 29 September 2005

Javier Romero Caramelo. 21 September 2007

Manuel de la Puente Mora-Figueroa. 25 September 2009

Alfonso Carlos Gómez Fernández de Córdoba. 23 September 2011

Enrique Torres Piñeyro. September 2013