NRP Gonçalves Zarco

**Gonçalves Zarco**
Ship data
flag	Portugal
Ship type	Aviso
class	Gonçalo Velho
Callsign	F476
Shipyard	Hawthorn, Leslie , Hebburn
Build number	584
Keel laying	October 9, 1931
Launch	November 28, 1932
Commissioning	August 17, 1933
Decommissioning	1961
Whereabouts	1964 demolished
Ship dimensions and crew
length	81.7 m ( Lüa ) 76.2 m ( Lpp )
width	10.8 m
Draft	Max. 3.5 m
displacement	950 ts standard ; 1414 ts maximum (1933) ; 1,500 t (1959)
crew	142
Machine system
machine	2 Parsons turbines
Machine ; performance	2,000 PS (1,471 kW)
Top ; speed	17.7 kn (33 km / h)
Armament
	3 × 120mm L50 Vickers cannon; 2 × 40 mm cannon , later 4th; 1943 3 × 120mm L50 Vickers cannon; 5 × 20 mm Oerlikon automatic cannon ; 4 × water bomb thrower , 1 throwing stand;
Sensors
	Radar navigation and ASDIC (1959)

The NRP Gonçalves Zarco (F476) was a 2nd class Aviso ( aviso de 2ª classe ) of the Portuguese Navy . It was named after the Portuguese navigator João Gonçalves Zarco . Together with her sister ship, the Gonçalo Velho , she formed the Gonçalo Velho class, which was designed for use in the overseas provinces of Portugal . Both ships were completed in 1933 by the British shipyard Hawthorn, Leslie & Co. in Hebburn near Newcastle .

The Gonçalves Zarco before Dili (December 1945)

After the end of the Japanese occupation of Portuguese Timor in World War II , the Gonçalves Zarco and the Bartolomeu Dias were the first Portuguese ships to bring aid to the colony. They reached the colonial capital on September 27, 1945 , one day after the Japanese surrender ceremony in Dili .

After the Second World War, the Gonçalves Zarco was used like a frigate . In her callsign she received the call sign F476 and was converted for submarine hunting .

During the occupation of Portuguese India by the Republic of India , the Gonçalves Zarco was in action with three other frigates and a number of patrol boats off Goa, Damão and Diu . But there was only a battle between the Afonso de Albuquerque and Indian warships, in which the Portuguese ship was destroyed. The other Portuguese ships did not come into direct contact with the enemy.

In 1961 the Gonçalves Zarco was decommissioned as a warship and was used as a survey ship (callsign A5200) until 1964.