Juan Sebastián de Elcano is a training ship for the Royal Spanish Navy. It is a four-masted topsail, steel-hulled barquentine (schooner barque). At 113 metres (371 ft) long, it is the third-largest tall ship in the world, and is the sailing vessel that has sailed the furthest, covering more than 2,000,000 nautical miles (3,700,000 km; 2,300,000 mi) in its history. As a training vessel, the ‘Juan Sebastian de Elcano’ has the main purpose of training the future Spanish Naval Officers, the midshipmen. In order to do so, it undertakes a training cruise every year, most of them visiting several ports outside of Spain. Approximately 75% of the time in these cruises are spent underway, while Midshipmen are receiving lessons and participating in every manoeuvre. Out of 89 cruises, ten of them have been trips around the world. During all the cruises the ship has suffered all kinds of high seas and strong winds, and she has always shown an excellent behavior even in the worst meteorological conditions.

Furthermore, the ship is also a floating embassy, supporting the foreign policy of the Spanish Government. This also allows the Spaniards who live abroad to feel the presence of Spain wherever they are.

The crew, commanded by Captain Victoriano Gilabert Agote, is composed of 24 officers, 22 petty-officers, 76 midshipmen, 125 enlisted personnel and 2 civilians. It was commissioned on February 29, 1928 and was built by the ‘Echevarrieta & Larrinaga’ shipyards in Cadiz. Since its first voyage it has sailed more than 1.7 million nautical miles and has visited over 197 ports in 71 different countries. The ship has a length of 113 meters and a width of 13 meters.

The Juan Sebastain de Elcano is named after Spanish explorer Juan Sebastián Elcano, captain of Ferdinand Magellan's last exploratory fleet and the man to lead the first circumnavigation of the world. The ship also carries the Elcano coat of arms, which was granted to the family by Emperor Charles I following Elcano's return in 1522 from Magellan's global expedition. The coat of arms is a terraqueous globe with the motto "Primus Circumdedisti Me" (meaning: "First to circumnavigate me").