The school ship "Mircea" from the Romanian Naval Academy "Mircea cel Batran" will celebrate Sunday, May 17, the 70th anniversary in the Romanian Navy.
The brig is in the 28th international march, starting April 12, 2009, with a crew of 190 persons; among them 65 are students from the Naval Academy "Mircea cel Batran" and 38 are pupils in the NCOs Military School "Amiral Ion Murgescu". After 3300 maritime miles and stopovers in Catania and Cadiz, "Mircea" accosted on Thursday, May 14, for three days in Santa Cruz of Tenerife.
The ship's 70th celebration will by marked by the organization of a ceremony with a short history of this Romanian Navy symbol, the read out of messages sent by the chief of the General Staff, by the chief of the Navy Staff, by the commander of the Naval Academy "Mircea cel Batran" and the NCOs League and the religious ceremony.
The "Knowing the ship her history" contest will be organized for the students and the pupils on board.
The start on "Tall Ships Challenge 2009" regatta in the Atlantic, on the Tenerife (Spain)-Hamilton (Bermuda) route will coincide with this anniversary moment.
On January 26, 1938 at "Blohm und Voss" shipyards they signed the birth certificate of this brig, bark type, A class, "Mircea". On September 23, 1938, the ship was launched and the national colors hoist ceremony was on March 27, 1939. The brig was baptized as his forefather, "bricul Mircea" ("Mircea" brig) (1882-1944)and honored on seas and oceans the name of the Romanian king, Mircea cel Batran, the person who unified the Romanian Country up to the "Great Sea".
The receive in Constanta port on May 17, 1939, a moment of history, was always celebrated as the Day of the ship. Shortly after that, the cadets from the Naval School "Mircea" have been embarked on for the first march on the Mediterranean Sea.
On September 5, 1944, the Romanian military fleet was mainly pointed towards the Soviet Union and for two years "Mircea" was kept as a capture, too. In 1948 it re-started the training marches on the Black Sea.
The ship suffered important works of modernization on "Blohm und Voss" shipyards between October 1965 and October 1966. The second capital restoration works, between 1994 and 2002 in Braila, was characterized by the endowment with the most modern systems of communication, navigation and governing. By public donations they assured the costs of reparation as the construction, as well.
At the end of these works, "Mircea" became the most modern ship among its "sisters": Eagle (USA), Gorch Fock I and Gork Fock II (Germany) and Sagres III (Portugal).
The march they had between March 4 and August 30, 1976 is the most complex one due its duration and distance. "Mircea" participated in the US Independency Bicentenary celebration and in "Operation Sail 76", Bermuda-New Port regatta.
The year 2004 coincided with the second cross of Atlantic, when the school ship participated in "Tall Ships Challenge 2004". The brig "Mircea" gained the second place of the Charleston-Delaware Bay stage, "Division of Youth".
On 2005, the school ship "Mircea" had a training march in the Mediterranean Sea, Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea with the participation in "Tall Ships Race 2005". This occasion, it participated in the international maritime festivals and jubilees of Belgium, France, Great Britain, Norway, Germany and Holland.
The training march on 2006 was made in the Black Sera with stops in Novorossiysk, Sevastopol, Odessa, Verne and Samsun.
On 2007 the school ship "Mircea" had a training march on the Mediterranean Sea and participated in "Tall Ship Race Mediterranea" with stops in Piraeus, Alicante, Barcelona, Toulon and Genoa.
"Mircea" had the training march for 2008 in the Mediterranean Sea for 115 days, Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, Baltic Sea and participated in three maritime festivals : "Armada de Rouen 2008", "La Fete du Brest" and "Hanse Sail Rostock 2008". And the 50th celebration of the launch of the German Navy Gorch Fock II "sister" school ship was celebrated during the "Hanse Sail Rostock 2008".

MoND Press Office