ARA Presidente Sarmiento Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids History
Moored at Puerto Madero, Buenos Aires
Argentina
Name	Presidente Sarmiento
Namesake	Domingo Faustino Sarmiento
Builder	Laird Brothers, Birkenhead, England
Launched	31 August 1897
In service	1897
Out of service	1961
Status	Museum ship in Buenos Aires, Argentina
General characteristics
Type	Sail training ship
Displacement	2,750 tonnes
Length	81 m (266 ft)
Beam	13.11 m (43.0 ft)
Draught	5.64 m (18.5 ft)
Propulsion	Steam, 3-cylinder compound, 1,000 hp (750 kW), ship rig
National Historic Monument of Argentina

ARA Presidente Sarmiento is a museum ship in Argentina, originally built as a training ship for the Argentine Navy and named after Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, the seventh President of Argentina. It is considered to be the last intact cruising training ship from the 1890s.

History
Propulsion and auxiliaries
- Rigging
- Engine
  - Fuel
- Steering
Armament
- Artillery
- Torpedoes
Historic images
Museum
See also

History

The ship was originally built for the Argentine Naval Academy. ARA Presidente Sarmiento made thirty seven annual training cruises including six circumnavigations of the globe. The ship was retired as a seagoing vessel in 1938, but continued to serve without sails on Argentine rivers around 1950 and as a stationary training ship until 1961.

It is now maintained in its original 1898 appearance as a museum ship in Puerto Madero near downtown Buenos Aires.

Propulsion and auxiliaries

Rigging

Engine

In addition to its sailing rig this ship includes a large triple expansion steam engine supplied by two coal-fired boilers exhausting through the rear stack. An additional auxiliary boiler exhausting through the forward stack provides steam for other than propulsion, including two engines driving electrical generators on the main deck (below the weather deck).

Fuel

A single coal bunker is positioned between the main and auxiliary boiler rooms

Steering

Helm

A three-wheel chain drive allows up to six helmsmen to control the rudder. Such a crew of operators was not always required due to the inclusion of an electric servo-drive for normal operation but was useful for the training of cadets.

Armament

Artillery

A gun on the deck

Four Armstrong gun mounts are positioned amidships, two on each side, with additional smaller weapons. The museum information indicates those as 5-inch pieces, but Norman Friedman identifies those as 120-mm L45 Elswick Pattern Y. Documentation on the ship shows these having had some armor, but the present installations are bare.

Torpedoes

A single torpedo scuttle using gravity expulsion exited at the bow. The scuttle has been removed and the exit port welded shut, but in the current museum configuration a torpedo is suspended in a position on the main deck ready to enter the former scuttle entrance. Additional torpedo storage is provided below this main deck.