History
1936 mutiny
On 8 September 1936 the crews of ''Afonso de Albuquerque'' and the destroyer mutinied while anchored in Lisbon harbour. Opposed to the António de Oliveira Salazar, Salazar dictatorship's support of the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists rebels against the pro-government Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), 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. 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.RMS ''Nova Scotia''
On 28 November 1942, ''Afonso de Albuquerque'' was in Maputo, Lourenço Marques (Maputo) when the torpedoed and sank the British troopship, troop ship off the coast of Natal Province, South Africa. ''Nova Scotia'' had 1,052 people aboard, most of them Italian prisoners of war or Enemy alien, civilian internees, but in accordance with the Laconia Order that Admiral Karl Dönitz, Dönitz had issued two months previously, ''U-177'' left the scene without rescuing survivors. Instead the German ''Befehlshaber der U-Boote'' (BdU) requested help from the Portuguese authorities, who sent ''Afonso de Albuquerque'' to the scene. 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. Five survivors fired a Flare gun, distress flare and were rescued by the ship. The next day ''Afonso de Albuquerque'' found herself surrounded by hundreds of floating corpses. In all the ship rescued 130 Italian internees, 42 guards, 17 crew members, three military and naval personnel, one Defensively Equipped Merchant Ships, DEMS gunner and one passenger. 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.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 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 1961 Indian annexation of Goa, 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 , just outside the Mormugao port. The two frigates and a minesweeper were an advance group of a task force which included the aircraft carrier and about ten cruisers, destroyers, frigates and minesweepers. At 12:00, as the Portuguese commanders refused to surrender, INS ''Betwa'' and her sister ship 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 Chief mate, 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 Coastal artillery, 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 shell (projectile), shells. Five of her crew were killed and 13 were wounded. 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.
References
Bibliography
*External links
* ''Jane's Fighting Ships 1938'', p. 398.