5th Portuguese India Armada (Albuquerque, 1503) Cape Verde, the first squadron of Afonso de Albuquerque struck out into the south Atlantic, following the South Atlantic Gyre. Along the way, Albuquerque came across Ascension Island. Although the island had already been discovered back in 1501 by the Third Armada of João da Nova (and named "ilha da Conceição" then), Albuquerque renamed it "ilha da Ascensão" on account of it being Ascension Day (May 21), the name that has since stuck. Strong south-westerly winds pushed them towards the coast of Brazil, where Albuquerque made a brief stop to take on water (exactly where is uncertain), before making his
NRP Afonso de Albuquerque (1934) and Daman and Diu by force. At the time, "Afonso de Albuquerque" was based in Goa as the leading naval unit of the Portuguese India Naval Command, with Captain Cunha Aragão as her commander. Early on the morning of 18 December 1961 "Afonso de Albuquerque" received information that the Indian Armed Forces had launched Operation Vijay. Her crew went to battle stations. As the land communication infrastructure was bombed and destroyed by the Indian Air Force, "Afonso de Albuquerque" received the responsibility to maintain radio communications between Goa and Lisbon. At 0900, "Afonso de Albuquerque" sighted three Indian Navy ships,