Today, at 13:30, an extraordinary opening of the Taranto swing bridge took place to allow the passage of theAmerigo Vespucci. The training ship of the Navy sailed through the navigable canal, thus concluding, in the splendid setting of the Apulian city, the 2020 education campaign of the officer students of the first class of the Naval Academy of the “Esperia” course.
Entering the Mar Piccolo, she lowered the sails, reversed the route and re-engaged the canal, to moor at the quay of the Aragonese castle.
A complex maneuver, which requires a high seafaring skill, great coordination and harmony of the crew, as a single, large team. The last and only sailing transit of the navigable canal of Vespucci it dates back to 1965, when the ship, under the command of one of the most famous officers and sailors of the Navy, Agostino Straulino, left the Mar Piccolo with the sails of the Trinchetto mast and the flakes in the wind, driven by a rare north wind.
On board the ship, during the maneuver, there was the commander in chief of the naval team, team admiral Paolo Treu, embarked for the occasion before entering the harbor. As soon as they were moored, the Navy Chief of Staff, Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, greeted the students and the crew.
The sailing ship, "traveling embassy" par excellence of Italy in the world and guardian of the values of the Navy, will remain moored at the Aragonese Castle and in the evening it will light up with the tricolor, to symbolically greet the city of Taranto and the population, although visits on board are not allowed in compliance with the rules to combat the spread of Covid-19.
During the education campaign, the students consolidated the training path started in the Naval Academy, to cement those values of loyalty, discipline and sense of duty that, yesterday as today, distinguish every sailor in carrying out the tasks of the armed force, at service of the country and the community.
The young cadets of the "Esperia" course faced with daily commitment, perseverance and dedication, following the words of the ship's motto Vespucci, "Not who begins but what perseveres", their first experience aboard a Navy ship. Sailing for about 60% of the time exclusively by sail, between the islands of the archipelago of La Maddalena, in the Strait of Messina, in the Strait of Sicily, also touching the waters of the Ligurian Sea, the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Ionian Sea, they traveled , altogether, 3553 nautical miles.
The ship's program this year has developed in unusual ways, to ensure compliance with the personnel safety procedures related to Covid-19; therefore for the entire period the usual stops in port and the ship's openings to the public were not carried out.
The 2020 Vespucci Campaign is dedicated to all Italians who have experienced particularly difficult moments in recent months, seizing every possible opportunity for a close passage of the ship along the coasts, to greet the local population with our Tricolore.
Nave Amerigo Vespucci, having greeted the city of Taranto, will head towards La Spezia tomorrow, to begin a periodic maintenance stop, in anticipation of the 2021 Campaign.
