NRP Afonso de Albuquerque (1934)

Type

Sloop of War

Period

20th Century

Nation

Portugal

Overview: NRP Afonso de Albuquerque was the lead ship of the two-vessel Afonso de Albuquerque-class sloop, built for the Portuguese Navy to maintain a presence in Portugal's overseas colonies. Named after the 16th-century general and viceroy of Portuguese India, she is best remembered for her final action defending Portuguese Goa against invading Indian forces in 1961. Specifications: Built by Hawthorn Leslie and commissioned 28 May 1934, she displaced 1,811 tons standard (up to 2,435 tons full load), was about 100 m (328 ft) long with a 13.49 m beam and 3.81 m draught. She was powered by 2 Parsons geared turbines and 4 Yarrow boilers giving 8,000 shp for 21 knots, and carried a complement of 191. Her armament comprised 4 x 120 mm guns, 2 x 76 mm guns, 4 x 40 mm AA guns, depth-charge throwers, and provision for 40 mines, with capacity for one aircraft in the original design. Service History: 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. She was destroyed in combat on 18 December 1961, defending Goa against the Indian Armed Forces Annexation of Goa. After the Second World War, the Afonso de Albuquerque-class ships were reclassified as frigates. Notable Facts: On 9 September 1936 the crews of Afonso de Albuquerque and the destroyer Dão mutinied while anchored in Lisbon harbour, and 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. The class had limited capacity to combat other surface vessels, as they were intended, mainly, to support amphibious operations and troops on land. This colonial-service role, along with her dramatic last stand at Goa, makes her a distinctive subject for modelers interested in interwar-designed sloops that saw action into the early 1960s.