f you are reading this blog, you likely already know that “America’s Tall Ship,” the 269-foot steel-hulled three-masted barque USCGC Eagle (WIX-327), started life in 1936 as one of the quartet of John Stanley-designed Gorch Fock-class school ships (segelschulschiff) for the German Kriegsmarine (Gorch Fock, Horst Wessel, Albert Leo Schlageter, and Herbert Norkus), followed by Mircea for the Romanian Navy.

Horst Wessel (the future USCGC Eagle) at the Mürwik Naval Academy in Flensburg, Germany, during 1937, two years before the start of WWII. 

While the U.S. got Horst Wessel (now Eagle) in 1946, and has used her ever since, and Norkus never sailed, the original Gorch Fock went to the Russians, who kept her until 2003, then gave her back to the Germans, who use her as a museum ship. The Romanians still sail Mircea, while Schlageter— sailing under the name Sagres III for Portugal since 1961 after passing through U.S. and then Brazilian ownership– is also still in active service.

Further, since the war ended, another five ships have been built to the same, although updated, design. These include yet another Gorch Fock (built for West Germany in 1958), Gloria (1967, Colombia), Guayas (1976, Ecuador), Simón Bolívar (1979, Venezuela), and Cuauhtémoc (1982, Mexico).

In short, nine tall ships are running around the earth to the same general specs, and at least four of them sailed into Norfolk over the weekend to take part in the Virginia installment of Operation Sail 250, which runs through June 24th.

Eagle and three of her sisters, Gorch Fock (1958), Mircea, and Sagres were reunited in Norfolk, creating an extraordinary gathering of maritime history.

All USCG images:

I got to attend the event in New Orleans earlier this month and stress to you my lesson: pick your vessel and time, keeping crowds in mind.

And if you miss them this week, the fleet will be on the move to Baltimore (25 June to 1 July), NYC (for the July 4 week), and Boston (July 11-16), getting larger at each port call.

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