Portuguese ironclad Vasco da Gama armored belt that was thick on either end and thick amidships. The main battery guns were protected by thick barbettes. "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
Vasco da Gama Rodrigues was renamed "Vasco da Gama Rodrigues School" in a ceremony led by the Regional Secretary for Education & Culture, Francisco Fernandes, and organised by the cultural centre "Casa do Povo do Paul do Mar". Vasco da Gama Rodrigues Vasco da Gama Rodrigues (27 January 1909, Paul do Mar, Madeira - 3 May 1991), was a Portuguese poet. Rodrigues moved in his youth to Mozambique, then a Portuguese colony. In his twenties he returned to Lisbon, where he worked in Lisbon’s Tourism Inspection Department. During this time he started writing and some of his works were published. His works are in