One of the largest[7] and fastest tall ships in the world,[8][9] holder of several speed records,[3] she was designed and built in the 1950s by the Río Santiago Shipyard, Ensenada, Argentina.

[1][12] The ship's follows the archetypal windjammer design, with a clipper bow and a wood-carved figurehead representing Liberty in a long flowing robe and a cruiser stern bearing the Argentine coat of arms in cast bronze.

[8] She is an all square rigged vessel, with bowsprit and three steel masts –Fore, Main (height of 56,2m), and Mizzen with boom– with double topsails and five yardarms each, which can rotate up to 45 degrees on each side.

[13] The vessel carries four fully functional 47 mm QF 3 pounder Hotchkiss cannons, 1891 model,[6] which were transferred from the previous school ship ARA Presidente Sarmiento.

The sea trials began in March 1961 and were carried to term under the command of Captain Atilio Porretti, who ordered changes to the vessel's rigging and figurehead.

[15] In 1966, during her fourth instruction voyage, ARA Libertad won the Great Medal Prize for establishing the tall ships' world record for crossing the North Atlantic Ocean using only sail propulsion.

She did so by running between Cape Race (Canada) and the imaginary line going from Dublin to Liverpool –2,058.6 nautical miles (3,812.5 km)– in 8 days and 12 hours, a record that has not been beaten.

[8] The captain was Commander Ricardo Guillermo Franke, and the Boston Teapot was presented by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh in name of Queen Elizabeth II.

Libertad suffered only light damage (two torn sails, smashed lifeboats and port rail) and, like Christian Radich, continued in the competition without problems.

ARA Libertad participated in Velas Sudamerica 2010, an historical Latin American tour by eleven tall ships to celebrate the bicentennial of the first national governments of Argentina and Chile.

[25] In 2004 she underwent a general mid-life update with special effort put into security and comfort, seeking to extend the vessel's lifespan for at least another forty years.

The vessel update also included changing all power, communications, alarm, signalling and monitoring cabling, an adaptation required for the newly incorporated systems.

The rigging was fully upgraded, which included bringing down, checking and repairing the spars, and renewing more than 55,000 meters of ropes, shrouds, backstays and steel cables.

[39] Following the International Tribunal ruling, the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority sued NML Capital for damages of least US$7.6 million related to the Libertad's impoundment.