NRP ''Augusto de Castilho'' was a warship in service of the

Portuguese Navy The Portuguese Navy ( pt, Marinha Portuguesa, also known as ''Marinha de Guerra Portuguesa'' or as ''Armada Portuguesa'') is the naval branch of the Portuguese Armed Forces which, in cooperation and integrated with the other branches of the Port ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. It was sunk in combat while escorting the steamer ''São Miguel'', originating the last Portuguese casualties of that conflict.

Civilian service

Originally a steam-powered fishing vessel named ''Elite''. The vessel was requisitioned by the Portuguese government to serve as a patrol boat during

.Saturnino Monteiro, page 141.

Naval service

On 23 March 1918 ''Augusto de Castilho'', commanded by Lieutenant Augustus de Almeida Teixeira, was convoying the transport ship ''Loanda'' when a submarine was spotted. The Portuguese patrol ship opened fire at about at the unidentified submarine, which dived promptly. On 21 August 1918, commanded by Lieutenant Fernando de Oliveira Pinto, ''Augusto de Castilho'' attacked a large German submarine with gunfire that disappeared quickly. On 13 October while escorting the

passenger ship A passenger ship is a merchant ship whose primary function is to carry passengers on the sea. The category does not include cargo vessels which have accommodations for limited numbers of passengers, such as the ubiquitous twelve-passenger freig ...

''São Miguel'', ''Augusto de Castilho'', under the command of First Lieutenant Carvalho Araújo, sighted by the German submarine . The submarine, commanded by

Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière ''Vizeadmiral'' Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière (; March 18, 1886 – February 24, 1941), born in Posen, Prussia, and of French-German descent, was a German U-boat commander during World War I. With 194 ships and sunk, he is the most successfu ...

, tried to attack the passenger ship but failed due to the intervention of ''Augusto de Castilho''. The Portuguese patrol ship was armed with two

Hotchkiss gun The Hotchkiss gun can refer to different products of the Hotchkiss arms company starting in the late 19th century. It usually refers to the 1.65-inch (42 mm) light mountain gun; there were also a navy (47 mm) and a 3-inch (76&nbs ...

pieces, a 65 mm caliber gun at the bow and a 47 mm caliber gun at stern, while ''U-139'' was armed with two 150 mm naval guns and six

torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...

s. The Portuguese warship was sunk after a fierce two-hour battle with the loss of four crewmembers, among them Carvalho Araújo.James H. Guill, "''the only battle of note that occurred near the Azores during this period took place 14 October 1918 between the German U-139 and Portugal's ships São Miguel and Augusto Castilho.''", page 507.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Augusto de Castilho 1909 ships Ships of the Portuguese Navy

Civilian service

Naval service

See also

References