Portuguese ironclad Vasco da Gama Vasco da Gama was a central battery ironclad which entered service with the Portuguese Navy in 1876 , serving until 1935 . She was built by the Thames Iron Works in London , launched in 1876 , and completed in 1878 . She served as the flagship of the Portuguese fleet for the majority of her long and peaceful career . She was rebuilt and heavily modernized between 1901 and 1903 . Long - since obsolete by the 1930s , " Vasco da Gama " was finally sold for scrapping in 1935 . Design . " Vasco da Gama " was long between perpendiculars , and she had a beam of , though at the main battery guns , the ship was wide . She had a maximum draft of . She displaced as originally built . She was fitted with a barquentine rig and a steam engine rated at , which produced a top speed of . She had a crew of 232 officers and men . As built , " Vasco da Gama " was armed with a main battery of two guns , placed in individual barbette s side by side amidships . She was also equipped with a single gun mounted on her stern , and four 9 - pounder guns for close - range defense against torpedo boat s . She was protected with a complete iron armored belt that was thick on either end and thick amidships . The main battery guns were protected by thick barbettes . Service history . " Vasco da Gama " was laid down at the Thames Iron Works shipyard in London , Britain in 1875 , and was launched on 1 December 1876 . The ship was completed in 1878 . She served as part of the coastal defense force that protected Lisbon , the Portuguese capital , and the mouth of the river Tagus . On 26 June 1897 , " Vasco da Gama " participated in the Fleet Review at Spithead celebrating Queen Victoria ' s Diamond Jubilee . At the time , the ship was commanded by Captain Barreto de Vascomellos . In 1901 , " Vasco da Gama " was taken into drydock at Orlando shipyard in Livorno , Italy , for a major reconstruction . She was cut in half and lengthened by a long section . She was fitted with new engines and more powerful water - tube boilers rated at ; this increased her speed to . Her sailing rig also was removed . Her main battery guns were replaced with new L / 40 guns in sponsons , the short 5 . 9 - inch gun was replaced by a new long - barreled 5 . 9 - inch L / 45 gun , and six 3 - pounders augmented her close - range defense . Her iron belt armor was removed and stronger steel armor was installed in its place . The ship ' s crew increased to 260 officers and men . All of the changes caused her displacement to rise to . Work on " Vasco da Gama " was completed by 1903 . On 27 August 1907 , a gas explosion aboard the ship injured several crewmen . During political unrest in April 1913 , part of the crew of " Vasco da Gama " had to be removed from the ship , as they had been involved in a planned ultra - Radical coup d ' état against the First Portuguese Republic . On 14 May 1915 , the crew again participated in unrest ; they mutinied and killed the ship ' s captain and bombarded Lisbon , killing around one hundred people . " Vasco da Gama " remained the flagship of the Portuguese Navy at least as late as 1914 , as the Portuguese naval budget was insufficient to fund a suitable replacement vessel . Thoroughly obsolete , she remained in the Portuguese fleet until 1935 , when she was sold for scrapping .