Today, the Portuguese Navy assumes a dual role capacity: naval combat missions to assure Portugal's sovereignty and international commitments, and coast guard operations in its territorial waters and areas of influence.

Despite some important initial setbacks, the Portuguese were finally able to react, repulsing the Dutch assaults on Mozambique, Goa and Macau and recapturing Northeast Brazil, Angola, São Tomé and Ano Bom, in several naval and military campaigns.

With insufficient forces to deter the invasion, in order not to be captured and keep the independence of the Kingdom, the Prince Regent John of Portugal activated an ancient strategic plan that foresaw the transference of the head of the Portuguese Crown to Brazil.

Meanwhile, Peter gathers a fleet of about 60 ships, under the command of George Rose Sartorius, that on 8 July 1832, disembarks a force of 7500 men near Mindelo, from where they advance to the nearby city of Oporto, taking it on the next day.

In August 1914, a German surprise attack against the isolated border post of Mazúia in the Rovuma riverbank in Northern Mozambique, resulted in the massacre of the small garrison, including its commander, the Navy sergeant Eduardo Rodrigues da Costa, who become the first Portuguese killed in action during the World War I.

As part of the Portuguese military reinforcements sent to respond to the German aggressions, a naval infantry expeditionary battalion was sent to Angola in November 1914, participating in the South-West Africa Campaign land fighting, under the command of Lieutenant-Commander Afonso Cerqueira.

On 23 February 1916, in an operation led by Commander Leote do Rego from the cruiser Vasco da Gama, the Portuguese Navy captured 38 German ships anchored in the Lisbon harbor.

In the beginning of the World War I, the Portuguese fleet included five cruisers, one aviso (sloop-of-war), one destroyer, one submarine, 12 gunships, seven river gunboats, four torpedo boats, two training ships and other seven armed vessels.

An amphibious assault against the northern bank of the river was however repulsed by well entrenched German forces, with intense machine-gun fire that caused a high number of casualties in the Portuguese landing parties.

When it was anchored in Cape Town, South Africa, São Gabriel was requested to collaborate in the security of the city, that was under the threat of an uprising and only guarded by 50 police officers, disembarking 116 of the members of its crew, that assumed the defense of the port for four days, until the return of the British naval forces that had left for the sea.

São Vicente was the interface of the telegraph submarine cables that connected America, Europe and Africa, as well being a major coaling station for the Allied warships and merchant vessels that navigated in the Atlantic.

In one of these missions, occurred the famous Action of 14 October 1918, between the naval trawler Augusto de Castilho, under the command of Lieutenant Carvalho Araújo, and the German U-boat cruiser SM U-139.

An important investment in the Portuguese Navy was authorized by the Government, with Minister Magalhães Correia launching a new naval program, partially based in early plans conceived by Admiral Pereira da Silva.

Although only half of the program was executed, from 1933 to 1939, the Portuguese Navy acquired a total of 22 new warships, including state of the art Vouga-class destroyers, Delfim-class submarines and Afonso de Albuquerque-class, Gonçalo Velho-class and Pedro Nunes-class avisos.

In one of these operations in January 1943, when returning to Ponta Delgada, after rescuing 119 survivors of the US merchant ships City of Fint and Julia Ward Howe sunk by German U-boats, the destroyer Lima, under the command of Lieutenant-Commander Sarmento Rodrigues, suffered a failure of her engines for 45 minutes.

The naval component of the expedition included the avisos Bartolomeu Dias, Gonçalves Zarco and Afonso de Albuquerque and the transport ships Angola, Sofala and Quanza, carrying supplies and about 2,000 troops.

From the late 1950s, the Portuguese Government and Military begin to concern about the increasing external and internal threats against the overseas territories of Portugal and the consequent need to defend them, including with adequate naval forces.

Afonso de Albuquerque engaged in the last conventional battle fought by the Portuguese Navy to the present day, when, at the 12h00 of 18 December, several Indian frigates entered Mormugao harbour and opened fire.

In the theatre of Mozambique, the main operational focus of the Portuguese Navy was the Lake Nyasa, in an effort to deter FRELIMO forces infiltrations from their bases in Tanzania and to cooperate with the Military of Malawi.

The needs to give priority for the acquisition of a large number of small units to operate in the African rivers delayed the plans for the ocean overseas force foresee in the late 1950s.

As part of the commitments to NATO, the Portuguese Navy supports the installation of the COMIBERLANT in Lisbon and deploy the Almirante Pereira da Silva-class frigates to regularly participate in the STANAVFORLANT since its creation.

Whilst disembarking with the other NATO ships, Almirante Gago Coutinho was ordered by the Portuguese Navy Staff to leave the international formation, turn back and place itself in front of the Terreiro do Paço riverside square, where most of the revolutionary forces were congregated.

On the day of Angolan independence, the task force FO 15 – which included the frigates Hermenegildo Capelo and Roberto Ivens, the corvette General Pereira d'Eça and the tanker São Gabriel, together with the hospital-ship Gil Eannes and the troop transport ships Niassa and Uige – executed the last of these operations in the bay of Luanda, taking on board Vice-Admiral Leonel Cardoso, the last Portuguese governor, and a military detachment then sailing to Lisbon.

Other Western powers likewise either declined to intervene or, in the case of the United States, explicitly approved of Indonesia's invasion one day prior and extensively armed its forces, relegating East Timor to a quarter century of Indonesian occupation.

Closer to home, the Portuguese Navy has consistently contributed patrol boats and corvettes to joint-nation EU exercises designed to aid Spain in dealing with its problem of illegal immigration and drug-trafficking off the Southern coast and the Canary Islands.

On 7 June 1998, a military coup occurring in Guinea-Bissau, would trigger a major naval rescue operation that would demonstrate the capacity of the Portuguese Navy to intervene at thousands of kilometers away from Portugal.

On 11 June, under the command of Captain Hélder Costa Almeida, Ponta de Sagres entered in the Port of Bissau, under artillery fire, rescuing more than 2,200 civilians, including 500 Portuguese nationals.

The Portuguese Navy sent a naval force, under the command of Captain Melo Gomes, composed of the frigate Vasco da Gama, the corvettes Honório Barreto and João Coutinho and the support ship Bérrio.

Today, under its current Director of Music, Commander Délio Alexandre Coelho Gonçalves it continues a long legacy of service in support of the Navy's primary missions and in the ceremonial role.

The National Maritime Authority (Autoridade Marítima Nacional) or AMN is the public body responsible for most of the coast guard type activities in Portugal, including the security, safety, life-guard, lighthouses and pollution fighting at sea.