NRP Afonso de Albuquerque (1934)

Last updated

NRP Afonso de Albuquerque.jpg
Afonso de Albuquerque in 1935
History
Flag of Portugal.svgPortugal
NameAfonso de Albuquerque
Namesake Afonso de Albuquerque
Builder Hawthorn Leslie
Launched1934
Commissioned28 May 1934
FateDestroyed in combat in 1961
General characteristics
Class and typeAfonso de Albuquerque class
Displacement
  • 1,811 tons standard,
  • 2,100 tons normal load,
  • 2,435 tons full load
Length100 m (328 ft 1 in)
Beam13.49 m (44 ft 3 in)
Draught3.81 m (12 ft 6 in)
Propulsion
Speed21 knots (39 km/h)
Range8,000 mi (13,000 km) at 10 knots (19 km/h)
Complement191
Armament
  • 4 × 120 mm guns,
  • 2 × 76 mm guns,
  • 4 × 40 mm anti-aircraft guns,
  • 2 × throwers for depth charges,
  • Fitted to carry 40 mines
Aircraft carried1

NRP Afonso de Albuquerque was a warship of the Portuguese Navy, named after the 16th-century Portuguese navigator Afonso de Albuquerque. She was destroyed in combat on 18 December 1961, defending Portuguese interests in Goa against the Indian Armed Forces Liberation of Goa.

Contents

The ship was the first of the Afonso de Albuquerque class, which also included NRP Bartolomeu Dias. These ships were classified, by the Portuguese Navy, as avisos coloniais de 1ª classe (1st class colonial aviso or sloop) and were designed to maintain a Portuguese naval presence in the Overseas territories of Portugal. They had limited capacity to combat other surface vessels, as they were intended, mainly, to support amphibious operations and troops on land.

After the Second World War, the Afonso de Albuquerque-class ships were reclassified as frigates.

In her career Afonso de Albuquerque served mainly in the Indian and the Pacific Oceans, protecting the Portuguese territories of Mozambique, India, Macau and Timor.

History

1936 mutiny

On 8 September 1936 the crews of Afonso de Albuquerque and the destroyer Dão mutinied while anchored in Lisbon harbour. Opposed to the Salazar dictatorship's support of the Nationalists rebels against the pro-government Republicans in the Spanish Civil War, the sailors confined their officers and declared their solidarity with the Spanish Republic. As the ships were leaving the Tejo estuary they were fired upon by the batteries from the forts and both Afonso de Albuquerque and Dão received direct hits and were grounded. [1] Some of the sailors were killed while trying to flee, but most of the sailors were arrested and sent to the penal colony of Tarrafal in Portuguese Cape Verde. After the mutiny was put down the government claimed that the sailors had prepared to sail to Spain in order to assist the Spanish Republic. [2]

RMS Nova Scotia

On 28 November 1942, Afonso de Albuquerque was in Lourenço Marques (Maputo) when the German submarine U-177 torpedoed and sank the British troop ship Nova Scotia off the coast of Natal Province, South Africa. Nova Scotia had 1,052 people aboard, most of them Italian prisoners of war or civilian internees, but in accordance with the Laconia Order that Admiral Dönitz had issued two months previously, U-177 left the scene without rescuing survivors. [3] Instead the German Befehlshaber der U-Boote (BdU) requested help from the Portuguese authorities, who sent Afonso de Albuquerque to the scene. [3] The ship reached the position the next day, by which time survivors who were in the water had either drowned or been eaten by sharks. [4]

Five survivors fired a distress flare and were rescued by the ship. [5] The next day Afonso de Albuquerque found herself surrounded by hundreds of floating corpses. [5] In all the ship rescued 130 Italian internees, 42 guards, 17 crew members, three military and naval personnel, one DEMS gunner and one passenger. [3] 858 people were lost: 650 Italian internees, 96 crew members, 88 South African guards, 10 DEMS gunners, eight military and naval personnel, five passengers, and Nova Scotia's master. [3]

Timor

In December 1941 Australian and Dutch forces occupied Portuguese Timor with the stated purpose of defending the territory against possible Japanese invasion. In February 1942, in response to the Australian and Dutch occupation, Japanese forces invaded Timor.

Japanese forces occupied Timor until the end of the Second World War, at the end of which Portugal sent a naval and military expedition to re-occupy and reconstruct East Timor. Afonso de Albuquerque escorted the 7,884  GRT troopship Angola, which carried the first Portuguese troops of the expedition, reaching Timor on 29 September 1945.

Goa

Late in 1961, unable to convince Portugal to relinquish its integrated territories in the Indian subcontinent, India launched Operation Vijay to seize Goa and Daman and Diu by force. At the time, Afonso de Albuquerque was based in Goa as the leading naval unit of the Portuguese India Naval Command, with Captain Cunha Aragão as her commander.

Early on the morning of 18 December 1961 Afonso de Albuquerque received information that the Indian Armed Forces had launched Operation Vijay. Her crew went to battle stations. As the land communication infrastructure was bombed and destroyed by the Indian Air Force, Afonso de Albuquerque received the responsibility to maintain radio communications between Goa and Lisbon.

At 09:00, Afonso de Albuquerque sighted three Indian Navy ships, led by the Leopard-class frigate INS Betwa, just outside the Mormugao port. The two frigates and a minesweeper were an advance group of a task force which included the light aircraft carrier INS Vikrant and about ten light cruisers, destroyers, frigates and minesweepers.

At 12:00, as the Portuguese commanders refused to surrender, INS Betwa and her sister ship INS Beas forced the entrance into the port and opened fire on Afonso de Albuquerque, which moved towards the enemy ships and returned fire. At the same time, the final radio message was sent to Lisbon:

"We are being attacked. We are responding."

Afonso de Albuquerque was hit by enemy fire. At 12:20, when she tried to manoeuvre to a position in which she could use all her guns, her command bridge was hit, killing her radio officer and seriously wounding Captain Aragão. Aragão ordered First Officer Sarmento Gouveia, to assume command with instructions not to surrender. Under heavy fire directed at the ship, some of the crew evacuated the wounded commander to shore and transferred him by car to medical facilities at Panjim.

At 12:35, under massive fire and with her boilers and engines already destroyed, the frigate's crew ran her aground onto the beach to serve as a shore battery. The crew continued to resist and fight until about the 14:10. The crew was captured by Indian forces on the next day at 20:30.

It is estimated that during her last combat Afonso de Albuquerque fired almost 400 shells. On the Indian Union side, two frigates were hit, killing five sailors and injuring thirteen, [6] but the advantage of the Indian Navy was significant, as their ships were more modern.

Afonso de Albuquerque lay grounded at the beach near Dona Paula until 1962 when she was refloated and towed to Bombay. Parts of the ship are on display at a museum in Mumbai. The remainder was sold as scrap. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Afonso de Albuquerque</span> Portuguese general, admiral, and statesman (1453–1515)

Afonso de Albuquerque, 1st Duke of Goa, was a Portuguese general, admiral, and statesman. He served as viceroy of Portuguese India from 1509 to 1515, during which he expanded Portuguese influence across the Indian Ocean and built a reputation as a fierce and skilled military commander.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Diu</span> 1509 Portuguese naval victory in India

The Battle of Diu was a naval battle fought on 3 February 1509 in the Arabian Sea, in the port of Diu, India, between the Portuguese Empire and a joint fleet of the Sultan of Gujarat, the Mamlûk Burji Sultanate of Egypt and the Zamorin of Calicut.

INS <i>Delhi</i> (C74)

INS Delhi was a Leander-class light cruiser built for the Royal Navy in 1933 as HMS Achilles, and commissioned into the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy in 1937 as HMNZS Achilles. She was returned to the Royal Navy at the end of the Second World War and in 1948 was sold to the Royal Indian Navy to be recommissioned as HMIS Delhi. In 1950 she was renamed INS Delhi and remained in service until decommissioned at Bombay on 30 June 1978.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Indian Navy</span>

Maritime powers in the Indian subcontinent have possessed navies for many centuries. Indian dynasties such as the Chola Empire used naval power to extend their influence overseas, particularly to Southeast Asia. The Marakkar Navy under Zamorins during 15th century and the Maratha Navy of the Maratha Confederacy during the 19th and 18th centuries fought with rival Indian powers and European powers. The East India Company organised its own private navy, which came to be known as the Bombay Marine. With the establishment of the British Raj after the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the small navy was transformed into "His Majesty's Indian Navy", then "Her Majesty's Indian Marine", and finally the "Royal Indian Marine".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Portuguese Navy</span> Naval branch of the Portuguese Armed Forces

The Portuguese Navy, also known as the Portuguese War Navy or as the Portuguese Armada, is the navy of the Portuguese Armed Forces. Chartered in 1317 by King Dinis of Portugal, it is the oldest continuously serving navy in the world; in 2017, the Portuguese Navy commemorated the 700th anniversary of its official creation.

<i>Brahmaputra</i>-class frigate Indian Navy ship class

The Brahmaputra-class frigates are guided-missile frigates of the Indian Navy, designed and built in India. They are an enhancement of the Godavari class, with a displacement of 3850 tons and a length of 126 metres (413 ft). Although of similar hull and dimension, internally, the Brahmaputra and Godavari classes have different configurations, armaments and capabilities. 3 ships of this class serve in the Indian Navy.

HMS <i>Dalrymple</i> 1948 Bay-class anti-aircraft frigate of the Royal Navy

HMS Dalrymple was a Bay-class anti-aircraft frigate of the British Royal Navy, which served as a survey ship, mostly in the Persian Gulf, from 1948 until 1965. She was completed to deal with the large numbers of uncharted wrecks and mines around the British Isles as a result of World War II. For this purpose she was fitted for minesweeping. She was named for the pioneering Hydrographer of the Admiralty Alexander Dalrymple (1737–1808).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Annexation of Goa</span> 1961 Indian military operation

The Annexation of Goa was the process in which the Republic of India annexed the Portuguese State of India, the then Portuguese Indian territories of Goa, Daman and Diu, starting with the armed action carried out by the Indian Armed Forces in December 1961. In India, this action is referred to as the "Liberation of Goa". In Portugal, it is referred to as the "Invasion of Goa". Jawaharlal Nehru had hoped that the popular movement in Goa and the pressure of world public opinion would force the Portuguese Goan authorities to grant it independence, but without success; consequently, Krishna Menon suggested taking Goa by force.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Portuguese maritime exploration</span> Numerous territories and maritime routes recorded by the Portuguese

Portuguese maritime exploration resulted in the numerous territories and maritime routes recorded by the Portuguese as a result of their intensive maritime journeys during the 15th and 16th centuries. Portuguese sailors were at the vanguard of European exploration, chronicling and mapping the coasts of Africa and Asia, then known as the East Indies, and Canada and Brazil, in what came to be known as the Age of Discovery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Gysae</span> German U-boat commander

Robert Karl Friedrich Gysae was a German U-boat commander in the Kriegsmarine during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves of Nazi Germany. Gysae commanded U-98 and U-177, being credited with sinking twenty-five ships on eight patrols, for a total of 146,815 gross register tons (GRT) of Allied shipping.

INS <i>Betwa</i> (F39) Indian Navy frigate

INS Betwa (F39) is a Brahmaputra-class guided missile frigate currently in service with the Indian Navy. The ship is named for the Betwa River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anjediva Island</span> Island off the coast of Goa, India

Anjediva Island is an Indian island in the Arabian Sea. It sits off the coast of Canacona, Goa. It is politically part of Goa state, geographically the nearest mainland is the coastal Kanara subregion of Karnataka.

<i>Flor de la Mar</i> Portuguese flagship until 1511

Flor do Mar or Flor de la Mar was a Portuguese nau (carrack) of 400 tons, which over nine years participated in decisive events in the Indian Ocean until her sinking in November 1511. Nobleman Afonso de Albuquerque was returning from the conquest of Malacca, bringing with him a large treasure trove for the Portuguese king, when the ship was lost off the coast of Sumatra. A replica of Flor do Mar is housed in the Maritime Museum in Malacca, Malaysia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Portuguese conquest of Goa</span> 1510 military campaign in India

The Portuguese conquest of Goa occurred when the governor Afonso de Albuquerque captured the city in 1510 from the Adil Shahis. Old Goa became the capital of Portuguese India, which included territories such as Fort Manuel of Cochin, Bom Bahia, Damaon, and Chaul. It was not among the places Albuquerque was supposed to conquer. He did so after he was offered the support and guidance of Timoji and his troops.

<i>Dom Fernando II e Glória</i>

Dom Fernando II e Glória is a wooden-hulled, 50-gun frigate of the Portuguese Navy. She was launched in 1843 and made her maiden voyage in 1845. Built at the shipyard of Daman in Portuguese India, it was Portugal's last sailing warship to be built and also the last ship that undertook the Carreira da Índia, a regular military line that connected Portugal to its colonies in India since the beginning of the 16th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rustom K. S. Ghandhi</span> Indian Navy Admiral

Vice Admiral Rustom Khushro Shapur 'Rusi' Ghandhi, PVSM, VrC was a former flag officer in the Indian Navy. He last served as the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Naval Command from 1977 to 1979. He is the only officer to have commanded ships in all wars and conflicts post Independence. He commanded the frigate INS Betwa (1959) during the Annexation of Goa, the destroyer INS Khukri (F149) during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 and the cruiser INS Mysore (C60) during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.

RMS <i>Nova Scotia</i> (1926) Sunken ship from the UK

RMS Nova Scotia was a 6,796 GRT UK transatlantic ocean liner and Royal Mail Ship. In World War II she was requisitioned as a troopship. In 1942 a German submarine sank her in the Indian Ocean with the loss of 858 of the 1,052 people aboard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1936 Naval Revolt</span> Mutiny in the Portuguese Navy

The 1936 Naval Revolt or Tagus boats mutiny was a mutiny in Portugal that occurred on 8 September 1936 aboard the aviso Afonso de Albuquerque and destroyer Dão. It was organized by the Revolutionary Organization of the Fleet, a left-wing group with links to the Portuguese Communist Party.

NRP <i>Dão</i> Douro-class destroyer of the Portuguese Navy, in service from 1935 to 1960

NRP Dão was one of five Douro-class destroyer built for the Portuguese Navy during the 1930s. She remained in service until 1960, being refitted and re-armed several times and taking place in a coup attempt in 1936.

References

  1. The Sydney Morning Herald, Friday 2 October 1936, p. 17
  2. James Maxwell Anderson, The History of Portugal, p. 146
  3. 1 2 3 4 Helgason, Guðmundur (1995–2013). "Nova Scotia". uboat.net. Guðmundur Helgason. Retrieved 29 March 2013.
  4. Bezuidenhout, Leon (March 2008). Pieter Snyman, Springbok-soldier 1940-43 (PDF). translated from Afrikaans by JC Hough & MJ Conradie. p. 13.
  5. 1 2 Colao, Alex (28 November 2011). "Anniversary of Nova Scotia – Alessandro Cerrato". Alex Colao Blog.
  6. Revista de Marinha: Três Navios Históricos
  7. [ dead link ]

Bibliography