A striking piece of Mexico’s naval tradition is sailing into Victoria this weekend. The Mexican Navy’s training ship ARM Cuauhtémoc is scheduled to arrive at the Canadian Coast Guard Base in Victoria on Saturday, giving people on the waterfront a chance to watch the three masted vessel come into port. The 295-foot ship is expected to dock at 10 a.m. on Sept. 12, following a welcoming ceremony at 9:30 a.m. The arrival is part of an international training cruise for the Mexican Navy. For the public, the visit continues beyond Saturday morning. The Cuauhtémoc will open its decks to visitors on Sept. 13, 14 and 15. Guests will be able to tour the vessel and meet members of its crew, offering a rare opportunity to see a working naval training ship up close. Advance registration is required for the public tours. Built in Bilbao, Spain, in 1982, the Cuauhtémoc was designed to train future Mexican Navy officers at sea. Now 44 years old, the vessel has carried generations of cadets from Mexico’s Heroic Naval Military Academy on voyages around the world. The 2026 voyage includes 281 people from the Heroic Naval Military School who are completing practical training. Victoria is one of several stops on the 92-day voyage, which also includes Honolulu, Seward, San Francisco and San Diego. During its service, the ship has travelled more than 905,000 nautical miles and sailed across every ocean. It has also circumnavigated the globe four times. The numbers only tell part of the story. For the Mexican Navy, the Cuauhtémoc is a classroom under sail, where young officers develop their skills while travelling between ports around the world. Captain José Díaz Castillo, commander of the Cuauhtémoc, says each port also provides an opportunity to build relationships beyond the ship itself. “Each route plotted on the nautical chart represents an opportunity to strengthen Mexico’s presence in the international arena, to forge closer ties of friendship and cooperation with other nations,” Díaz Castillo said in a statement to CTV News. During the voyage, the cadets will take part in navigation exercises, seamanship manoeuvres, leadership training, teamwork and decision making at sea. It is also a highly visible link between Mexico and the communities it visits. For Mexicans living abroad, the ship can represent something more personal: a connection to home, family, culture and the country they left behind. That connection will be particularly visible during the Victoria visit, where members of the public will be able to walk the decks and meet the sailors who spend months at sea aboard the vessel. The 2025 Brooklyn Bridge collision The Victoria visit comes more than a year after the Cuauhtémoc was involved in a deadly collision with New York City’s Brooklyn Bridge. On May 17, 2025, the ship struck the bridge shortly after leaving Manhattan’s Pier 17, damaging all three of its masts. Two people aboard were killed and 19 others were injured, according to the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board. Now, the Cuauhtémoc is back on the water and making its way to Victoria, where Islanders will have a chance to see the ship. Giving visitors a rare opportunity to step aboard, meet members of its crew and experience a small piece of Mexico’s maritime tradition.
