Mexican Navy Tall Ship Cuauhtemoc Opens to the Public at Piers 15-17 September 23

The Mexican Navy’s sail training ship ARM Cuauhtemoc arrives in San Francisco on Wednesday, September 23, and the public can go aboard free for four days at Piers 15 to 17 on the Embarcadero.

The ship is expected to pass under the Golden Gate Bridge at about 9:30am on Wednesday before running down the waterfront to its berth, according to the announcement issued for Ocean Alliances, the nonprofit hosting the visit. That passage is the part you do not need a ticket or a pier queue for: anywhere with a clear view west, from Fort Point to Crissy Field to the Marin headlands, works.

Going Aboard

Open ship hours, as published by the organizers:

Wednesday, September 23: noon to 5pm
Thursday, September 24: 10am to 8pm
Friday, September 25: 10am to 8pm
Saturday, September 26: 10am to 8pm

The ship departs at 10am on Sunday, September 27.

One caution on the hours. SFist published a different Thursday schedule, with a midday closure, and a Wednesday window ending at 3:30pm. The hours above are the ones in the official announcement and in the notice circulated by the International Yachting Fellowship of Rotarians San Francisco fleet, which match each other. The organizers have said further detail on public access, security screening and accessibility will be released before arrival, so check oceanalliances.org the morning you plan to go.

The Ship

The Cuauhtemoc is a three-masted barque, about 297 feet long and 39 feet across the beam, carrying roughly 280 officers, midshipmen and crew. It was built at a shipyard in Bilbao, Spain, to a design by naval architect Juan Jose Alonso Verastegui, and commissioned into the Mexican Navy at Veracruz in September 1982. It serves as the navy’s flagship and as a training vessel for cadets from the Heroica Escuela Naval Militar.

Per the announcement, the ship has completed 45 training voyages, called at 234 ports in 75 countries and logged more than 905,000 nautical miles. The current voyage is a 92-day North Pacific training cruise calling in Mexico, the United States and Canada, and the Golden Gate Bridge appears on the official emblem designed for it.

Many readers will know the ship for a different reason. On the evening of May 17, 2025, while leaving New York, the Cuauhtemoc lost power and its masts struck the underside of the Brooklyn Bridge. Two crew members died and about twenty people were injured. The ship has since been repaired and returned to service. (Some coverage of the San Francisco visit has given the date of that accident as April 2025; it was May 17.)

Getting There

Piers 15 to 17 sit on the Embarcadero at Green Street, next to the Exploratorium. The F Market historic streetcar stops directly outside. Embarcadero station, four blocks south, serves BART and all Muni Metro lines. The 6, 9 and 21 run to the Ferry Building.

Pier parking on the Embarcadero is metered and limited, and the waterfront fills on a Saturday. Transit costs less than parking here.

If you are planning the rest of a waterfront day around it, our guide to things to do in San Francisco covers the Embarcadero and the piers.

Photo: Miguelleugim, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.