Talk:Battle of 4 May

Military history: Maritime / South America

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Brazil

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Portugal

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Find correct name The airport is not listed as João Paulo II anywhere. The airport's own website calls itself simply Ponta Delgada, and has no mention of João Paulo.

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Category:History of Portugal: lots to remove there
Template:Regions of Portugal: statistical (NUTS3) subregions and intercommunal entities are confused; they are not the same in all regions, and should be sublisted separately in each region: intermunicipal entities are sometimes larger and split by subregions (e.g. the Metropolitan Area of Lisbon has two subregions), some intercommunal entities are containing only parts of subregions. All subregions should be listed explicitly and not assume they are only intermunicipal entities (which accessorily are not statistic subdivisions but real administrative entities, so they should be listed below, probably using a smaller font: we can safely eliminate the subgrouping by type of intermunicipal entity from this box).

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Numbers after ship names

What are the numbers after the names of the ships? Why aren't they explained somewhere? Why some ship have numbers after their names and others don't?--Noalid (talk) 03:58, 24 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Number of cannons. I don't know why the person who added it didn't explain it. --Lecen (talk) 10:39, 24 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you! I've put this info in the article cause the way it was I think was a bit uncomprehensible.--Noalid (talk) 15:01, 25 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Grammar

Someone whose first language is English needs to polish up this article. I'm not sure of the author's meaning in certain place or I'd do it myself. But perhaps someone who knows about this battle can do it?Doug1943 22:56, 21 January 2014 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Doug1943 (talk • contribs)

I clarified some of this from a knowledge of tactics, but I don't understand some of the inferences. Did the Portuguese fleet run out of ammunition? Who was Wood Melo? Thewellman (talk) 01:32, 11 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Brigadier General Inácio Madeira de Melo, commander of the Portuguese troops in Salvador City. Whoever wrote the article did it with Google translator and it backfired. (Madeira means "wood" in English) --Lecen (talk) 15:28, 11 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you. I fixed the general's name, but I haven't been able to decipher a more meaningful nautical translation of "plow". Any ideas? Thewellman (talk) 04:35, 12 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Another fine example of bad translation. That's the kind of ship. In Portuguese it means "charrua" ("transport ship"). "Charrua" also means plough (or plow) in Portuguese, and that's how it got wrong. Just replace "plow" with "transport ship" and you'll be fine. --Lecen (talk) 05:16, 12 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you again for the clarification. I remain puzzled by the ammunition situation, and it appears a possibly significant factor in the Portuguese failure to effectively utilize numerical superiority over the period of blockade. Can you deduce from the original document whether the ammunition shortage affected the entire Portuguese squadron or merely the portion engaged by the Brazilians? The term cartridge may be a questionable translation since artillery of the period was typically loaded with individual components of powder and shot rather then pre-assembled cartridges. Thewellman (talk) 12:07, 12 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Perhaps all you need to know can be found here, on chapter 2. I'm sorry if I can't be of more help, but I'm not aware of any other book with further details of this battle. --Lecen (talk) 15:33, 12 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]