On 17 May 2025, while leaving New York on her training cruise, the Cuauhtémoc struck the Brooklyn Bridge: her three masts were broken, nineteen people were injured and two crew members lost their lives. The images went around the world.
A year on, the Mexican Navy's great training ship (launched in Bilbao in 1982, with over 400,000 nautical miles logged) has been repaired and is sailing again. At the Armada press conference, president Jean-Paul Rivière sounded confident about her coming to Rouen: asked directly, the Mexican navy reportedly answered that of course she would come — though Spain would also like to host her, and ships only ever sign “intentions to come”.
A Rouen regular
With a figurehead of the last Aztec emperor, the Cuauhtémoc is one of the world's most photogenic ships — and an Armada regular, as in 2008 (our photo). If confirmed, she will be one of the emotional highlights of the 2027 edition (17–27 June, free quays).