Albert Leo Schlageter (sailing ship)

The NRP Sagres is a tall ship

Tall ship

A tall ship is a large, traditionally-rigged sailing vessel. Popular modern tall ship rigs include topsail schooners, brigantines, brigs and barques. "Tall Ship" can also be defined more specifically by an organization, such as for a race or festival....

and school ship of the Portuguese Navy

Portuguese Navy

The Portuguese Navy is the naval branch of the Portuguese Armed Forces which, in cooperation and integrated with the other branches of the Portuguese military, is charged with the military defence of Portugal....

since 1961. It is the third ship with this name in the Portuguese Navy, so she is also known as Sagres III.

The three-masted ship was launched under the name Albert Leo Schlageter

Albert Leo Schlageter

Albert Leo Schlageter was a member of the German Freikorps. His activities sabotaging French occupying troops after World War I led to his arrest and eventual execution by French forces. His death created an image of martyrdom around him, which was cultivated by German nationalist groups, in...

on 30 October 1937 at Blohm & Voss in Hamburg

Hamburg

-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

for the German navy (Kriegsmarine

Kriegsmarine

The Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Nazi regime . It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany.The Kriegsmarine grew rapidly...

). It thus is a sistership of the Gorch Fock

Gorch Fock (1933)

The Gorch Fock I is a German three-mast barque, the first of a series built as school ships for the German Reichsmarine in 1933. She was taken as war reparations by the USSR after World War II and renamed Tovarishch...

, the Horst Wessel, and the Romanian training vessel Mircea

Mircea (ship)

The Mircea is a three masted barque, built in 1938 in Hamburg by the Blohm & Voss shipyard as a training vessel for the Romanian Navy. Her design is based on the successful plans of the Gorch Fock; the last of a series of four sister ships. The ship is named after the Wallachian Prince Mircea the...

. Another sister, Herbert Norkus, was not completed, while Gorch Fock II

Gorch Fock (1958)

The Gorch Fock is a tall ship of the German Navy . She is the second ship of that name and a sister ship of the Gorch Fock built in 1933. Both ships are named in honor of the German writer Johann Kinau who wrote under the pseudonym "Gorch Fock" and died in the battle of Jutland/Skagerrak in 1916...

was built in 1958 by the Germans to replace the ships lost after the war. The ship was named after Albert Leo Schlageter

Albert Leo Schlageter

, who was executed in 1923 by French forces occupying the Ruhr area

Occupation of the Ruhr

The Occupation of the Ruhr between 1923 and 1925, by troops from France and Belgium, was a response to the failure of the German Weimar Republic under Chancellor Cuno to pay reparations in the aftermath of World War I.-Background:...

.

The ship is a steel-built three masted barque

Barque

A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts.- History of the term :The word barque appears to have come from the Greek word baris, a term for an Egyptian boat. This entered Latin as barca, which gave rise to the Italian barca, Spanish barco, and the French barge and...

, with square sails on the fore and main masts and gaff

Gaff

-Pole-shaped devices:* Fishing gaff, a pole used in fishing* Gaff or hakapik, used as a seal-hunting weapon* Gaff rig; A fore-and-aft sailing arrangement where the sail is held up by a spar called a gaff-Ankle-worn devices:...

rigging on the mizzen mast. Her main mast rises 42 m above the deck. She carries 22 sails totalling about 2,000 m² (21,000 ft²) and can reach a top speed of 17 knots (31 km/h) under sail. She has a sparred length of 89 m (295 ft), a width of 12 m (40 ft), a draught of 5.2 m (17 ft), and a displacement at full load of 1,755 tons.

Following a number of international training voyages, the ship was used as a stationary office ship after the outbreak of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

and was only put into ocean-going service again in 1944 in the Baltic Sea

Baltic Sea

The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...

. On 14 November 1944 she hit a Soviet

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

mine

Naval mine

A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, an enemy vessel...

off Sassnitz

Sassnitz

Sassnitz is a town on the Jasmund peninsula, Rügen Island, in the Federal State of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. The population as of 2007 was 10,747....

and had to be towed to port in Swinemünde. Eventually transferred to Flensburg

Flensburg

Flensburg is an independent town in the north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg is the centre of the region of Southern Schleswig...

, she was taken over there by the Allies

Allies of World War II

The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...

when the war ended and finally confiscated by the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

In 1948, the US sold her to Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

for a symbolic price of $5000 USD. She was towed to Rio de Janeiro, and for Brazil she sailed as a school ship for the Brazilian Navy

Brazilian Navy

The Brazilian Navy is a branch of the Brazilian Armed Forces responsible for conducting naval operations. It is the largest navy in Latin America...

under the name Guanabara. In 1961, the Portuguese Navy bought her to replace the old school ship Sagres II (which was transferred to Hamburg

Hamburg

, where she is a museum ship under her original name Rickmer Rickmers

Rickmer Rickmers

Rickmer Rickmers is a sailing ship permanently moored as a museum ship in Hamburg, near the Cap San Diego.Rickmer Clasen Rickmers, was a Bremerhaven shipbuilder and Willi Rickmer Rickmers, led a Soviet-German expedition to the Pamirs in 1928.The Rickmer Rickmers was built in 1896 by the Rickmers...

). The Portuguese Navy

Portuguese Navy

renamed her Sagres (the third ship of that name), and she is still in service.

Sisterships

Gorch Fock (1)
Gorch Fock (1933)
The Gorch Fock I is a German three-mast barque, the first of a series built as school ships for the German Reichsmarine in 1933. She was taken as war reparations by the USSR after World War II and renamed Tovarishch...

(ex Tovarishch)
USCGC Eagle
USCGC Eagle (WIX-327)
The is a barque used as a training cutter for future officers of the United States Coast Guard. She is one of only two active commissioned sailing vessels in American military service, the other being the USS Constitution....

(ex Horst Wessel)
Herbert Norkus
Herbert Norkus
Herbert Norkus was a Hitler Youth member who was killed by German Communists. He became a role model and martyr for the Hitler Youth and was widely used in Nazi propaganda, most prominently as the subject of novel and movie Hitler Youth Quex.- Background :Born to a working class family in the...

, never completed
Mircea
Mircea (ship)
The Mircea is a three masted barque, built in 1938 in Hamburg by the Blohm & Voss shipyard as a training vessel for the Romanian Navy. Her design is based on the successful plans of the Gorch Fock; the last of a series of four sister ships. The ship is named after the Wallachian Prince Mircea the...

, Romanian sail training ship
Gorch Fock (2)
Gorch Fock (1958)
The Gorch Fock is a tall ship of the German Navy . She is the second ship of that name and a sister ship of the Gorch Fock built in 1933. Both ships are named in honor of the German writer Johann Kinau who wrote under the pseudonym "Gorch Fock" and died in the battle of Jutland/Skagerrak in 1916...

Sisterships

See also