Juan Bautista Cambiaso was launched on 29 August 2009 in Varna, Bulgaria. The ship — originally named Royal Helena— was acquired by the Dominican Navy in August 2018 and named in honor of Admiral Juan Bautista Cambiaso, founder of the Dominican Navy, who defeated the Haitian navy in the Battle of Tortuguero. During this engagement, a force of three Dominican schooners led by then-Commander Juan Bautista Cambiaso (at the helm of the flagship schooner Separación Dominicana) defeated a force of three warships of the Haitian Navy, ensuring naval supremacy for the newborn nation.
The ship replaces an earlier training ship of the same name, acquired from the Canadian Navy in 1947. That ship, a motor-ship of the corvette class, had previously been named HMCS Belleville. It was scrapped by the Dominican Navy in 1972.[1]
The ship has also appeared in the 2016 Black Sea Tall Ships Regatta, 2017 Tall Ships Regatta, and 2017 Tall Ship Races.[2]
Additionally, Juan Bautista Cambiaso has played a part in Domincan international relations, and is used as an "Ambassador of the Seas of the World" by the Dominican navy.[3] In July 2023, the ship made a port call in Jamaica, strengthening ties between the two nations.
Juan Bautista Cambiaso is a barquentine.[4] She is 54m (177feet) long with a beam of 8m (26feet) and can accommodate up to 37 cadets for multiple-day journeys, with a permanent crew of 12. Her callsign is LZKZ and she is identified by the MMSI number 207369000.[5]
On 20 June 2017 she struck another vessel, the Victoria, while entering the port of Oudeschild, Netherlands. There were no reports of injured people.[6]
