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 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 the style of Agostinho da Silva and Álvaro Ribeiro. Lisbon's Câmara Municipal (Municipal Chamber) named a street after him in Santa Maria dos Olivais. On 3 May 2009, the school in Paul do Mar