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Two Killed as Mexican Sail Training Ship Hits Brooklyn Bridge

training ship
Damaged training ship with its broken masts (NYC Fire Department)

Published May 18, 2025 9:33 AM by The Maritime Executive

 

During a maneuver in New York harbor, the Mexican sail training vessel Cuauhtémoc struck the historic Brooklyn Bridge while onlookers watched in horror. The Mexican Navy is reporting that 19 cadets were injured and two others died from their injuries.

Reports are saying there were a total of 229 sailors aboard the vessel, with the Navy reporting 11 are in more serious condition and nine are in stable condition. She was in New York City on a goodwill stop during a training cruise bound for Iceland. The training cruise is being terminated, and the Mexican embassy is making arrangements to reunite the cadets with their families.

The vessel was departing its dock and making a ceremonial outbound transit on the East River, with the cadets high up in the rigging. In the moments before the casualty, the training ship was moving astern under power, with one twin-screw assist tug keeping pace alongside. The tug was not connected with a hawser, and had only been employed for pushing during the undocking.  

The East River has strong currents, and the tide was coming in - towards the bridge - at the time of the casualty. The wind was also northeasterly, towards the bridge, according to initial accounts. By the time Cuauhtémoc made contact with the underside of the bridge deck, she was making about six knots astern. 

 

 

All three of the ship's masts hit the underside of the bridge, and spectators who had gathered to watch the transit reported hearing the sounds of breaking wood.  

Spectators reported seeing cadets dangling from the masts in their protective harnesses. The Navy is saying no one fell into the river, though the New York City Fire Department received initial reports of people in the water. 

 

The NYC Police are reporting the vessel’s masts are 158 feet in height, but the bridge has a clearance of 135 feet. 

NYC Mayor Eric Adams reported that no one was injured on shore and that the bridge did not sustain damage. It has already reopened to traffic. 

The Cuauhtémoc is now moored at Pier 36 on the East River, and damage assessments and salvage plans are under way. Coast Guard Sector New York has established a 50-yard safety zone around the vessel, and has asked passing traffic to transit at slow speed. The harbor's VTS service is monitoring the scene, and the New York City Police Department's marine units are patrolling the safety zone. 

The 300-foot Cuauhtémoc was commissioned in 1982 as a modern replica of the famous sail training ships built in the 1930s. She is one of four sister ships, along with Colombia's Gloria, Ecuador's Guayas and Venezuela's Simón Bolívar.  

While detailed specifics of Cuauhtémoc's propulsion system are not readily available, her sister ships are fitted with a controllable pitch propeller system (CPP) and a single auxiliary engine. A CPP system uses mechanical or hydraulic means to rotate the angle (pitch) of the propeller blades to move ahead (positive pitch) or astern (negative pitch). By changing the blade pitch, either direction of thrust - or no thrust at all - can be produced while the engine remains in the same direction of rotation.

While the cause of the Cuauhtémoc's allision with the bridge is not yet known, there are at least four previous vessel casualties that were caused when a CPP control system failed in a manner that resulted in unwanted full-astern thrust, most recently the 2008 sinking of the Alaska Ranger.

The National Transportation Safety Board has deployed a rapid-response team of investigators, who will be examining all potential human and mechanical factors closely, including Cuauhtémoc's propulsion system.