After a week of varied activities, the frigate ARA Libertad has cast off from the port of Baltimore September 17 as part of her 52nd Training Voyage. He left this unique harbor behind where he stayed near the 1854 sloop of war, USS “Constellation,” which is preserved as a National Historic Landmark.
Prior to sailing, the Naval Attaché was received on board at the Argentine Embassy in the United States, Navy Commodore Horacio Jorge Calafell; the Chief of the Argentine Naval Logistics Mission in the United States, Captain Pedro Racca; the Army Military Attaché at the Argentine Embassy in the United States, Colonel Major Javier Martos; and the Minister of Defense and Aeronautics, Major Commodore Carlos Cendón.
During his stay in this port city, which is known as the “city of enchantment”, a floral offering was made in front of a plaque that remembers the greatest hero of the Argentine Navy, Admiral Guillermo Brown.
A welcome ceremony was held at the pier by representatives of Sail Baltimore and was attended by authorities in charge of this organization (which since 1976 has promoted the presence of sailboats in this city every year), local authorities, representatives of the U.S. Navy and the Coast Guard.
Likewise, more than 3,000 people were able to tour the decks of the training ship, many of them of Latin origin or descent, who interacted with the crew and learned about the mission, characteristics and activities carried out in the Ambassador to the Seas. At the end of each open day, the ceremony of lowering the national flag was held, accompanied by a respectful silence from the attendees.
For their part, the Midshipmen on Commission carried out different professional, cultural and protocol activities, including a visit to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis (Maryland), where they were able to tour that military institution that trains commissioned officers of the Navy and the Marine Corps. They also visited Fort Mc Henry, and toured Washington and New York, visiting museums and sites of cultural and tourist interest outstanding in those cities.
Finally, the frigate cast off from the Inner Harbor, West Wall, in the city of Baltimore, its third foreign port on the itinerary, bound for Bridgetown, capital of Barbados.