''Tejo'' was

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

's first

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were conceived i ...

, and the first destroyer to be built in Portugal. It was the only ship of its class to be built. Launching in 1904, it served with the

Portuguese Navy The Portuguese Navy (), also known as the Portuguese War Navy (''Marinha de Guerra Portuguesa'') or as the Portuguese Armada (''Armada Portuguesa''), is the navy of the Portuguese Armed Forces. Chartered in 1317 by King Dinis of Portugal, it is ...

until 1927.

Construction and design

In 1901 the ship was started in the Naval Arsenal of

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

. This was part of a plan to retrofit the

, a plan implemented during the reign of

Carlos I of Portugal Dom (title), ''Dom'' Carlos I (; 28 September 1863 – 1 February 1908), known as "the Diplomat" (), "the Oceanographer" () among many other names, was List of Portuguese monarchs, King of Portugal from 1889 until his Lisbon Regicide, assassin ...

. The ship was originally classified as a "torpedo-gunboat", and was designed to fill the role of

gunboat A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies. History Pre-steam ...

torpedo boat A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of ...

and

. The ship, displacing 522 tons, was designed to be long with a beam of and a draught of . The engines provided 7000 hp which gave ''Tejo'' a speed of . The vessel had a complement of 85.Campbell, p. 379

Service history

''Tejo'' went into service in 1904, but tests were continued on it until 1906. The initial armament consisted of one gun, one gun, four guns and two

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...

tubes. However, during tests, its broad range of roles limited its effectiveness overall. The decision was then made to transform ''Tejo'' completely into a destroyer. After the

First Portuguese Republic The First Portuguese Republic (; officially: ''República Portuguesa'', Portuguese Republic) spans a complex 16-year period in the history of Portugal, between the end of the History of Portugal (1834-1910), period of constitutional monarchy ma ...

was established, the ship was recommissioned as NRP ''Tejo''. In 1910, ''Tejo'' accidentally ran aground in Peniche and suffered severe damage. Five years later, in 1915, the ship was taken to port to be converted completely to a destroyer. These changes were completed in 1917 and the ship became a full-fledged destroyer. It retained most of its armament, only swapping the 65 mm gun for a gun. While undergoing tests, ''Tejo'' proved to be the fastest ship of the

. ''Tejo'' was scrapped in 1927. This was the second ship in Portugal's history to bear the name ''Tejo''. A gunboat in 1868 was the first and a destroyer of the ''Vouga'' class - launched in 1935 - was the third.

Note

* This article was translated from the Contratorpedeiro português Tejo article in the Portuguese language Wikipedia.

Citations

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tejo 1904 ships Ships built in Portugal Destroyers of Portugal Destroyers of the Portuguese Navy