KALININGRAD, August 8. /TASS/. Russia’s legendary barque Kruzenshtern currently on its regular training voyage has called at the German port of Warnemunde to take part in the international maritime festival, a spokeswoman for the Baltic State Academy of the Fishing Fleet, the ship’s owner, told TASS on Thursday.

"The sail training ship Kruzenshtern has today called at the port of Warnemunde. The barque will take part in the Hanse Sail festival on the invitation of the festival’s organizing committee," spokeswoman Irina Obraztsova said, noting that the Russian sail ship was a regular participant in this international maritime event.

Along with the Kruzenshtern, the Russian barque Mir and the sail vessels from Italy, Colombia, Mexico and other countries, as well as a large number of yachts moored at the port of Warnemunde, the spokeswoman said.

"The cadets of the Baltic State Academy and the Kaliningrad Maritime Fishing College who are aboard the Kruzenshtern on their training voyage will take part in festive events," she said.

In particular, the festival envisages a parade of the crews of sail vessels and the traditional parade of sails, in which "its largest participant, the barque Kruzenshtern, will be its major star," she added.

Russia’s legendary windjammer will traditionally be open for residents and guests of the city and the port. The Kruzenshtern will stay at the German port until August 12. After that, the barque will set its sail towards its home port of Kaliningrad where it will wrap up its voyage and 2019 navigation on August 20 as planned.

Meanwhile, preparations will begin in Kaliningrad for a large-scale expedition by sail training ships of Russia’s Federal Fisheries Agency to mark 200 years of the discovery of the Antarctica by the prominent Russian explorers Faddey Bellinsgauzen and Mikhail Lazarev and the 75th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.

The expedition involving the windjammer Kruzenshtern and the barque Sedov, which is also operated by the Baltic State Academy of the Fishing Fleet, as well as the frigate Pallada will set its sail at the end of the year. The Sedov and the Pallada will embark on a voyage around the globe while the Kruzenshtern will perform a trans-Atlantic transition and cover 29,000 nautical miles over 273 days.

Barque Kruzenshtern

The four-mast barque Kruzenshtern was built at a German Shipyard near Bremerhaven in 1926 and was given the Italian name of the Padua (after the Italian city). The windjammer was listed among the world’s ten largest sail ships. She was surrendered to the Soviet Union in 1946 in WWII reparations and renamed after the 19th-century Russian admiral and explorer Ivan Kruzenshtern. The barque was re-equipped as a training vessel with a modern engine.

Over its 93-year history, the barque has made two round-the-globe voyages, as well as a trans-Atlantic expedition, and won many international sailing races. This is the world’s last classical barque initially built for voyages solely under sail without any additional engines and power generators. Over the years of its operation, more than 17,000 cadets have undergone maritime training on its board and acquired their first maritime professional skills.