| Portuguese Navy | |
|---|---|
| Marinha Portuguesa | |
 Coat of arms of the Portuguese Navy | |
| Founded | 1317 |
| Country |  Portugal |
| Type | Navy |
| Size | 8,200 military 620 paramilitary 79 ships 5 aircraft units |
| Part of | Portuguese Armed Forces |
| Headquarters | Alfeite Naval Base, Lisbon |
| Patron | Henry the Navigator |
| Motto(s) |
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| Anniversaries |
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| Website | https://www.marinha.pt/pt |
| Commanders | |
| Chief of Staff |  Admiral Gouveia e Melo |
| Insignia | |
| Ensign |  |
| Pennant |  |
| Jack |  |
The Portuguese Navy (Portuguese: Marinha Portuguesa), 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 the oldest continuously serving navy in the world; in 2017, the Portuguese Navy commemorated the 700th anniversary of its official creation.
The navy played a key role in Portuguese maritime exploration during the Age of Discovery in the 15th and 16th centuries. The result of this technical and scientific discoveries led Portugal to develop advanced ships, including the caravel, new and more sophisticated types of carracks for interoceanic travel and the oceanic galleon,[1][2] and to find the sea route to the East and routes to South America and Northern North America.
Bartolomeu Dias rounded the southern tip of Africa and Vasco da Gama reached India, linking Europe and Asia for the first time by ocean route, as well as the Atlantic and the Indian oceans. This led to the discovery of Brazil in the first expeditions that linked Europe, Africa, the New World, and Asia on a single voyage, such as the expedition of Pedro Álvares Cabral, and through the skills and experience of their navigators in the Atlantic, the Indian ocean, and in the Far East, also contributed to the technical and geographical advance of other European navies, such as the first circumnavigation by Ferdinand Magellan (including, in the expedition, other captains, sailors and pilots), sailing across the Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean.
From the late 15th century until the late 16th century, the Portuguese navy was one of the most powerful maritime forces in the world.[citation needed] For most of the 16th century, the Portuguese India Armadas and fleets, then the world leader in shipbuilding and naval artillery and technology,[3][4][5] dominated most of the Atlantic Ocean south of the Canary Islands, the Indian Ocean and the access to the western Pacific.[1]
Following the Iberian Union, the Portuguese Empire and its maritime power lost a significant deal of its prestige, beginning to decline as other newly emerging European empirical powers began to overtake it.
Today, the Portuguese Navy assumes a dual role capacity: naval combat missions to assure Portugal's sovereignty and international commitments, and coast guard operations in its territorial waters and areas of influence. The Portuguese Navy also participates in missions related with international commitments assumed by Portugal (mainly within NATO), as well as missions of civil interest.
- ^ a b [1] Archived 7 November 2013 at the Wayback Machine Os Navios e as Técnicas Náuticas Atlânticas nos Séculos XV e XVI: Os Pilares da Estratégia 3C - Rear Admiral Antonio Silva Ribeiro - Revista Militar (in Portuguese)
- ^ [2] Archived 18 February 2017 at the Wayback Machine Galeão - Navegações Portuguesas by Francisco Contente Domingues (in Portuguese)
- ^ Garcia de Resende, Vida e feitos d' el-rey Dom João Segundo, 1545, lines 8219 to 8220
- ^ [3] Archived 8 October 2016 at the Wayback Machine The Cambridge Illustrated History of Warfare: The Triumph of the West - Geoffrey Parker, pp. 125-130, Cambridge University Press, 1995
- ^ Rodrigues and Tevezes (2009: pp. 260–64)