The Mexican navy tall ship that fatally smashed into the Brooklyn Bridge last spring is on its first voyage out to sea since the harrowing incident to give its hefty repairs a test run, The Post has learned.
The Cuauhtémoc left Caddell Dry Dock & Repair Co in Staten Island for its “sea trial” in the ocean near the Big Apple around 2 p.m. Wednesday and is expected to return from the Atlantic sometime Saturday.
“It’s an operational test to make sure all the equipment is working as it should be,” Sal Morino, Caddell’s vice president, told The Post.
The ship took some $500,000 in damage when it collided with the Brooklyn Bridge in May — in a crash that left two dead and is still under investigation.
Morino described the extensive work on the damaged ship as “completed,” adding that his crew repaired the three masts that were severed in the disaster.
The crew also conducted heavy inspections on the Cuauhtémoc’s running gear, which includes the boat’s shafts, struts, props, rudders, trim tabs and thrusters.
If all goes well on this weeks brief trip, the Cuauhtémoc would be cleared to finally leave the Big Apple and conclude its six-month stay — a visit that was initially intended to last just five days.
It could also mean that the Mexican naval ship could, as originally planned before the accident, return next summer as part of the flotilla of Class A International Tall Ships slated to parade through the Harbor as part of the US’s 250th birthday.
Nothing is yet confirmed, but Chris O’Brien, the president of Sail4th 250, told The Post in July that organizers welcomed the Cuauhtémoc’s “triumphant return.”
An investigation into the tragic crash is still ongoing, but preliminary reports indicate that the ship was inexplicably sailing backwards and picked up speed before the collision.
At the time, dozens of cadets aboard the naval training vessel were “manning the masts,” meaning they were standing on and strapped to the ship’s three masts — a universal sign of respect every time a ship enters and leaves a port.
Two crew members who were on the masts plummeted to the ship’s deck during the collision and were later pronounced dead at local hospitals. Another 19 people were injured.
The vessel also hit a seawall on the Brooklyn side of the East River before the crew deployed both anchors.
The Brooklyn Bridge didn’t sustain any structural damage, though some loss of paint was observed, the report states.
The National Transportation Safety Board report noted that the pilots of the 147-foot training vessel and the tugboat tested negative for alcohol and other drugs, and that the weather conditions were clear.
The report doesn’t explain why the pilot’s orders to move forward weren’t followed, or why the Cuauhtémoc picked up speed before the tragic collision.
It could be another year to uncover the lingering questions surrounding the tragedy.
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