Navy
The Macau Naval Aviation Centre was created in 1927 as a seaplane base to combat submarine activity in and around Macau. It was decommissioned in 1933, but re-activated from 1937 to 1940. The naval station was later moved to the Outer port in 1940 and de-commissioned after 1942. The naval station in Macau was part of the Far East Fleet.
Portuguese naval ships stationed in Macau:
- cruiser Rainha Dona Amélia - stationed early 1900s
- cruiser Vasco da Gama - stationed early 1900s
- gunboat Pátria - constructed in Lisbon in 1903 and entering service in Macau in 1909.
- small shallow-draught gunboat Macau - built in Scotland, shipped to Hong Kong in crates, and launched in 1909. The Macau was sold to the Japanese in 1943 where it was renamed the Maiko. After World War II it became the Chinese Nationalist Navy boat Wu Feng and later served in the Navy of Red China until 1968.
A naval air station was established in 1927 with limited equipment.
When it was discovered that neutral Macau was planning to sell aviation fuel to Japan, aircraft from the USS Enterprise bombed and strafed the hangar of the Naval Aviation Centre on 16 January 1945 to destroy the fuel. American air raids on targets in Macau were also made on 25 February and 11 June 1945. Following Portuguese government protest, in 1950 the United States paid US$20,255,952 to the government of Portugal. Japanese domination ended in August 1945.
Read more about this topic: Military Of Macau Under Portuguese Rule
Famous quotes containing the word navy:
“I wish to reiterate all the reasons which [my predecessor] has presented in favor of the policy of maintaining a strong navy as the best conservator of our peace with other nations and the best means of securing respect for the assertion of our rights of the defense of our interests, and the exercise of our influence in international matters.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“People run away from the name subsidy. It is a subsidy. I am not afraid to call it so. It is paid for the purpose of giving a merchant marine to the whole country so that the trade of the whole country will be benefitted thereby, and the men running the ships will of course make a reasonable profit.... Unless we have a merchant marine, our navy if called upon for offensive or defensive work is going to be most defective.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“There were gentlemen and there were seamen in the navy of Charles the Second. But the seamen were not gentlemen; and the gentlemen were not seamen.”
—Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800–1859)