Eagle, dubbed “America’s Tall Ship,” will make its first appearance in San Diego since 2008 on Friday and be open for deck visits.
With a length of 295 feet, the ship is the only square-rigger and the biggest tall ship currently in service for the United States. Eagle is a three-masted barque with six miles of rigging and a sail area of over 22,300 square feet. Free public tours will be available this weekend, and it will be docked at the B Street Pier, 1140 North Harbor Drive.
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There are tours available:
- Friday, Aug. 8 from 1 to 4 p.m.;
- Saturday, Aug. 9 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; and
- Sunday, Aug. 10 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
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Named for a slain Nazi “Brownshirt” lieutenant, the ship was built in 1936 at the Blohm and Voss Shipyard in Hamburg, Germany, and initially commissioned by the German Navy as the Horst Wessel. The Eagle was recommissioned in 1946 as a war reparation ship for the United States after World War II.
Since 1946, Coast Guard personnel have been using the Eagle as a classroom at sea. It deploys every summer with candidates from the Officer Candidate School and cadets from the US Coast Guard Academy.
The Coast Guard said in a statement that “the sea and its lore” are deeply ingrained in many of the academy’s activities. “These traditions date back to the golden age of sail, when vessels like Eagle made up the Navy and Revenue Cutter Service, the precursor of the modern United States Coast Guard.”
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Eagle occasionally stops at ports abroad in an effort to “foster relations with partner nations.”
Eagle will make its eleventh port call during her 14-week West Coast voyage in San Diego.
