Portugal entering the war would not alter naval balance according to the Dutch newspaper Het nieuws van den dag dated 23 December 1914

An item referred to what the maritime correspondent of the British newspaper Times wrote about the consequences of entering the war by the British ally Portugal. At that moment were German merchant ships lying in Portuguese harbours with a huge total tonnage. Seizing would enrich the Portuguese economy on large scale. Further more were Portuguese harbours from then on no longer available for German cruisers for coal and victuals unless with force but the correspondent believed that the Portuguese government was prepared for this potential danger. Despite the fact that the Portuguese parliament approved a budget for building a new fleet was yet no money spent for this purpose. While British shipyards which were to built the Portuguese warships had enough work, was a Portuguese active participation in the war just fiction. Her present navy consisted of aged ships not suitable for modern welfare causing Portugal to count on allied protection at sea. Still it was possible that one of more of the several to be seized German merchant mail boats could be sold to England and be converted into auxiliary cruisers, if still necessary for chasing German privateers.