NRP Dom Carlos I (A522)

NRP Dom Carlos I (A522) is the lead ship of the Portuguese Navy' Dom Carlos I-class survey vessels (ex-US Stalwart-class surveillance ships adapted in Portugal for the execution of hydrography and oceanography surveys). Before the transference to the Portuguese Navy, Dom Carlos I was the USNS Audacious (T-AGOS-11) surveillance ship of the United States Navy.

History
USNS Audacious was a Stalwart-class modified tactical auxiliary general ocean surveillance ship of the United States Navy.

Stalwart class ships were originally designed to collect underwater acoustical data in support of Cold war anti-submarine warfare operations in the 1980s.

ex-USNS Audacious was transferred to the Portuguese Navy in 1996 and renamed Dom Carlos I in honor to Carlos I, King of Portugal and a pioneer scientist in the oceanography field. The refitting of the Audacious for transfer to Portugal was completed at Detyens Shipyard on the site of the former Charleston Naval Base in North Charleston, South Carolina.

In Portugal, Almirante Gago Coutinho underwent adaptation works towards its transformation into a hydro-oceanographic ship, in the Alfeite Naval Arsenal. The first phase of the transformation was carried out in 2001 and the second phase in 2004.