In the Portuguese press, referring to the former command, the state of the country's naval forces is being discussed.
celebrated, that the country is a member of NATO, at the same time, it is now possible to speak more formally about the real contribution to security. In the English-language edition of Portugal Resident, the columnist writes about, that the Portuguese Navy is "on the brink of collapse".
From the material of the columnist N. Donn:
Only one out of five frigates is operational. Vasco da Gama frigate, which is considered the pearl of the Portuguese navy, has been at the Arsenal de Alfeite shipyard for the last four years, awaiting costly renovations.
We are talking about the lead ship of the class of the same name, which has been in operation since January 1991 of the year. This is a frigate with a standard displacement of about 2800 t. It was built in Germany. The length of the ship is about 116 m, sediment - 6,2 m.
Portuguese media note, that the more the ship is at anchor, the more difficult it will be to repair it and the more funds will have to be spent on such repairs.
From N. Donn's material:
Navy maintenance problems reach tipping point. Former commanders of the Portuguese Navy call the situation either critical, or disastrous.
At the moment, in the Portuguese Navy, only one frigate is recognized as operational. This is Álvares Cabral, which belongs to the above-mentioned class "Vasco da Gama". The frigate "Bartolomeu Dias" was supposed to go to sea after being repaired at the shipyard, but the dates have been postponed. The thing is, that during maneuvering it was rammed by a tug directly in the water area, which shipyard belongs to. The frigate "Francisco de Almeida" is at the shipyard in the Netherlands. And, as the Portuguese media write, the Dutch who declare for a month in a row, that the stage of repair is "final".
Former Chief of Staff of the Portuguese Navy M.Fragoso:
If nothing is done and if the budget parameters persist, then we will lose all our warships, we will be left without frigates, with an incapacitated fleet.
When this is added, what even if we admit, that official Lisbon will significantly increase funding for the repair and modernization of warships, then the problem still cannot be solved in a short time, as Portugal is experiencing an acute shortage of ship repair specialists. Because of this, ships have to be transported to shipyards in other countries..
noted, that, in general, such a situation is unacceptable for a NATO country.
