After the presentation of the Princess of Asturias Award and a very intense autumn experience at the age of 19, Leonor de Bourbon will experience his first Christmas as a Navy midshipman first class. After that, the heir to the throne will face another exciting and exciting challenge: his journey on the training ship Juan Sebastian de Elcano where he will enlist on January 11 and where he will stay for five months, visiting eight countries. An adventure that his father King Felipe and his grandfather Don Juan Carlos also experienced.
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© GTRESThe XCVII edition of the ‘Elcano’ training cruise will have special relevance this year. Among the 76 midshipmen who will be on board will be Princess of Asturias, which will travel 17,000 nautical miles in 140 days. Set sail on January 11, 2025, from Cádiz This historic ship is heading to Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and from there the ship will cross the Atlantic to the Americas. Next port will be Salvador de Bahia (Brazil), which will be followed by Montevideo (Uruguay), Punta Arenas (pepper), Valparaiso (Chile), El Callao (Peru), Panama City (panamaCartagena de Indias (Columbia), Santa Marta (Colombia), Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) and New York (States has joined)
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© HM King’s House‘An unforgettable experience for Leonor’
From the Big Apple, the ship will begin its return voyage to Spain, where it will again dock at Gijon, Ferrol, Marin and Cadiz on July 21, 2025. It will be, in the words of Defense Minister Margarita Robles, “an unforgettable experience” for Leonor. The commander and commander of the training ship will be Captain Luis Carreras-Presas who said in the event presentation of the new version of the cruise that it is “a theoretical and practical training immersion that allows you to learn up to 18 subjects. We are of a very different nature without forgetting coexistence until we become one big family. and training.
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© CasaRealIn addition to being a training center for the Navy, ‘Elcano’ also serves as a floating embassy, helping to support Spain’s foreign actions in foreign countries and ports and providing first-rate equipment in defense diplomacy. Every stop you make will be an official visit, as reported Country. On board, the princess will be Midshipman Bourbon Ortiz, but as soon as she sets foot on dry land, she will be treated as Her Royal Highness. After spending several months on the high seas, Leonor will spend another month on a Navy frigate.
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‘Elcano’, crossing the sea for a hundred years
Built at the Echevarieta and Larrinaga shipyards in Cádiz, the training ship Juan Sebastian de Elcano was launched on March 5, 1927, and delivered to the Navy on August 17, 1928. So it traveled through all the oceans and stops in the world. In more than 70 different countries. AndIt is the most representative and well-known vessel Both in Spain and outside our country, especially for those Spaniards who live in other parts of the world, for whom it is always a reunion and a link with their country.
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© Europa PressThe ship’s maiden voyage was from Cádiz to Malaga, with King Alfonso XIII, Princess Leonore’s great-grandfather. Years later, in 1958, King Juan Carlos conducted the XXX training cruise and in 1987 Philip VI enlisted as a sailor.
© GTRESThe ship is named for the famous Spanish sailor who first sailed around the world in 1522, completing a voyage begun under a Portuguese sailor, in the service of the Spanish Crown, Ferdinand Magellan, who died halfway through the voyage. Charles I of Spain gave Elcano a coat of arms with legend Primus Crimdestisti me (in Latin, the first to circumambulate me).
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Without torpedoes, but with light weapons
Unlike most naval units, this ship is a brig schooner sailboat, with no missiles, torpedoes, or weapons systems for combat. It counts as other lightly armed warships. For the unit’s self-defense, to maintain adequate capabilities to meet an unexpected threat arising at sea or in a foreign port. It has two 37 mm mounts, two Browning machine guns and two MG machine guns, as well as portable weapons such as rifles and pistols.
