An “act of indiscipline” ignited the Portuguese navy

This Thursday at noon, the Chief of Staff of the Portuguese Navy, Admiral Gouveia and Melo, stated that “the Navy cannot forget, ignore or condone acts of indiscipline”, alluding to what was committed by the crew of the patrol boat NRP Mondego last Saturday. He said this about the ship itself, the condition of which he went to personally check.

All, after part of the crew refused to carry out a mission to monitor the Russian ship north of the island of Porto Santo, in Madeira. They cited various safety reasons, such as a water leak or failure of one of the two engines and one of the three generators, which have been inactive since October 2022.

The ship was on a search and rescue mission for 500 days, which prevented maintenance work. In their written statement, the soldiers state that the commander himself assumed this in front of the garrison “he didn’t feel comfortable” sailing with the technical limitations that the ship presented.

Gouveia e Melo stated that “the commander, ultimately responsible for the safety of his unit, what he says is that, despite the limitations and conditions in which the mission was assigned, the NRP Mondego would be ready to carry it out.”

In this sense, the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousaconvinced that reinforcement is required for maintenance military equipment. For his part, the Prime Minister Antonio Costahe preferred to hand over responsibilities to the military command and not make any public announcements pending the conclusion of the ongoing investigation.

To make matters worse, on the same Thursday in the Diário da República (equivalent to the BOE) it was announced that the Government is providing 39 million euros for supervision and maintenance of some ships of the navythe decision of March 2 and that does not include NRP Mondego.

Now, apart from the commander, 29 people who make up the ship’s crew will be replaced, not just 13 who refused to sail. Under the terms of the duty of obedience and guardianship, they could face imprisonment. The soldiers were kept on board without permission to set sail, where they were interrogated by the Polícia Judiciária Militar. Disciplinary proceedings have been initiated, and it is possible that criminal matters are involved.