.jpg) Laurindo Pitta in 2009
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Brazil | |
| Name | Laurindo Pitta |
| Owner | Brazilian Navy |
| Operator | Brazilian Navy |
| Builder | Vickers, Sons & Maxim, Ltd, Barrow |
| Launched | 20 August 1910 |
| Completed | 30 September 1910 |
| Decommissioned | 16 September 1959 |
| Fate | Reactivated in 1998 as a museum ship |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement | 514 t (514 000 kg) |
| Length | 128 ft (39 m) |
| Beam | 26.2 ft (8 m) |
| Draught | 14.8 ft (4.5 m) |
| Speed | 11 knots |
| Armament | 2 × 47 mm cannons |
Laurindo Pitta is a museum ship and former tugboat of the Brazilian Navy, subordinated to the Directorate of Historical Heritage and Documentation of the Navy (DHHDN). She is the oldest boat of the navy still in service, being built by the British shipyard Vickers, Sons & Maxim, Ltd, in 1910. The tugboat is 39 meters long and displaced up to 514 tons in weight. She belonged to the Naval War Operations Division, part of the Brazilian squadron sent to patrol the northeastern African coast during World War I. In World War II, she participated in helping to defend the port of Rio de Janeiro. Laurindo Pitta was decommissioned on 16 September 1959, but was still used by the Brazilian Navy until the 1990s.
The Navy decided to restore her in 1998, and since then she has served the institution as a museum ship, subordinated to DHHDN. In this department, the boat is used in the Guanabara Bay tour and as a historical source for tourists who visit the Navy's Cultural Space, where she is stationed. Pitta participated in naval events such as the celebration of the 500th anniversary of the discovery of Brazil, in 2000, and its centennial, in 2010, when the tugboat was presented with the title of Honorary Member of the North American Classic Yacht Association (CYA).