BROOKLYN BRIDGE COLLISION

          ARM CUAUHTÉMOC (BE-01) is the Mexican Navy’s three-masted sail training ship.  She remembers the last Aztec emperor during the 1520-21 Spanish conquest and associated smallpox epidemic.  Launched in September 1982, she is one of four sisters, GLORIA of Colombia, GUAYAMAS of Ecuador, and SIMON BOLIVAR of Venezuela.  Throughout her 43-year career to date, CUAUHTÉMOC had completed 39 major cruises, sailing over 400,000 NM with three global circumnavigations.  Her 2025 cadet cruise departed her homeport of Acapulco on 6 April destined for Iceland by way of the Aberdeen, Scotland, tall ships parade.  May 12^th last year marked her port call at New York City.

          CUAUHTÉMOC’s career had not been without mishap.  In 2007 she collided with a suspension bridge on the exit from the harbor of Bilbao, Spain.  Her departure that day was timed to coincide with a slackening high tide that left enough water to avoid grounding yet allowed clearance of an intervening suspension bridge.  Her departure was a bit premature, and the top 12 inches of her mainmast snapped off when she failed to clear the bridge.  She was not damaged sufficiently to warrant interrupting her cruise.  Then ten years later on 11 June 2017, a Mexican cadet fell overboard off India and was never recovered.

          This day found CUAUHTÉMOC departing New York under the conn of a harbor pilot.  A total of 277 visitors, dignitaries, and crewmen were aboard.  Cadets manned the yardarms in the traditional departure display.  But only four minutes after casting off from Pier 17, at 0824, the tall ship experienced an engine casualty.  Caught in the swift East River current, her pilot had only 80-90 seconds to react.  A desperate call for a second tug was not answered in time, and CUAUHTÉMOC was swept under the Brooklyn Bridge.  The bridge’s 135-foot clearance was too low for the 159-foot mast.  All three topmasts snapped off, plunging some sailors to the deck below while others dangled in the air, clinging to wreckage.  Two cadets, America Yamilet Sanchez and Adal Jair Maldonado, died hours later; 19 others were injured, two requiring hospitalization.  Damage to the bridge was insignificant.

          US Senate Minority Leader at the time, Charles “Chuck” Schumer (D,NY), postulated that Federal cuts under the Trump administration’s short-lived Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), run by Elon Musk, had contributed to the accident.  However, the subsequent National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation failed to validate that claim.

Watch for more “Today in Naval History”   23-25 MAY 26

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

Brown, Ruth and Kyle Marian Viterbo.  “Mexican Tall Ship Strikes Brooklyn Bridge, Snapping Masts and Killing 2 Cre Members.”  AP News.  AT: https://apnews.com/article/brooklyn-bridge-collision-mexican -navy-ship-ca335dc85ebfbf981bc38516985461c8, retrieved 26 May 2025.

Ghildial, Pratikshe; Jeroslav Lukiv and Ruth Comerford.  “Two Dead as Mexican Navy Ship Crashes into Brooklyn Bridge.”  BBC News.  AT: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c991n8p4pdyo, retrieved 26 May 2025.

Guarjardo, Adi and Liz Rozner.  “NTSB Gives First Update on Brooklyn Bridge Ship Crash.”  CBS News.  AT: https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/brooklyn-bridge-mexican-ship-crash-investigation/, Retrieved 26 May 2025.

The Guardian.  “Mexican Navy Says Ship’s Pilot in Deadly Bridge Crash was from New York.”  The Guardian website.  AT: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/20/mexico-ship-brooklyn-bridge-new-york-crash, retrieved 26 May 2025.

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