Two Minas Geraes-class battleships were built for the Brazilian Navy in the early twentieth century. Named and , these "dreadnought" warships were intended to be Brazil's first step towards becoming an international power, and they consequently initiated a South American naval arms race.
In 1904, Brazil began a major naval building program that included three small battleships. Designing and ordering the ships took two years, but these plans were scrapped after the revolutionary dreadnought concept rendered the Brazilian design obsolete. Two dreadnoughts were instead ordered from the United Kingdom, making Brazil the third country to have ships of this type under construction, before traditional powers like Germany, France, or Russia. As such, the ships created much uncertainty among the major countries in the world, many of whom incorrectly speculated the ships were actually destined for a rival nation. Similarly, they also caused much consternation in Argentina and, consequently, Chile.
Soon after their delivery in 1910, both Minas Geraes and São Paulo were embroiled in the Revolt of the Lash (Revolta da Chibata), in which the Afro-Brazilian crews of four ships demanded the abolition of corporal punishment in the navy. The mutineers surrendered after four days, when a bill was passed granting amnesty to all those involved. In 1922, the two battleships were used to help put down a revolt at Fort Copacabana. Two years later, lieutenants on São Paulo mutinied but found little support from other military units, so they sailed to Montevideo, Uruguay, and obtained asylum. Minas Geraes was modernized in the 1930s, but both battleships were too old to participate actively in the Second World War, and instead were employed as harbor defense ships in Salvador and Recife. São Paulo was sold in 1951 to a British shipbreaker, but was lost in a storm north of the Azores while being towed to its final destination. Minas Geraes was sold to an Italian scrapper in 1953 and towed to Genoa the following year.
Background
Brazil's navy fell into obsolescence after an 1889 revolution, which deposed Emperor Dom Pedro II, and an 1893 civil war.Topliss, "The Brazilian Dreadnoughts," 240.Livermore, "Battleship Diplomacy," 32.Martins, "Colossos do mares," 75. Meanwhile, an Argentine–Chilean dispute over the boundary of Patagonia and control of the Beagle Channel kindled a naval arms race between the two beginning in the late 1880s and lasting until 1902. Restrictions were placed on the navies of both countries and major vessels under construction in both navies were sold as part of the British-mediated three pacts which ended the dispute, but both countries retained the numerous vessels built in the interim.Scheina, Naval History, 45–52.Garrett, "Beagle Channel Dispute," 86–88. As such, by the turn of the 20th century the Brazilian Navy lagged far behind the Chilean and Argentine navies in quality and total tonnage, despite Brazil having nearly three times the population of Argentina and almost five times the population of Chile.Scheina, "Brazil," 403.
Soaring demand for coffee and rubber brought Brazil an influx of revenue in the early 1900s. Simultaneously, there was a drive on the part of prominent Brazilians, most notably the Baron of Rio Branco, to have the country recognized as an international power.Scheina, Naval History, 80. A large naval acquisition program was drawn up and passed by the National Congress of Brazil in October 1904 in accordance with their belief that a powerful navy would be crucial to the achievement of this goal, but it was two years before any ships were ordered.
Two factions argued over the types of ships to be ordered. One favored a navy centered on a small number of large warships, while the other preferred a larger navy of smaller warships. The latter originally prevailed with a bill authorizing the construction of three small battleships, three armored cruisers, six destroyers, twelve torpedo boats, three submarines, and two river monitors.English, Armed Forces, 108. Though the Brazilian government later eliminated the armored cruisers for monetary reasons, the Minister of the Navy, Admiral Júlio César de Noronha, signed a contract with Armstrong Whitworth for three battleships on 23 July 1906.Topliss, "The Brazilian Dreadnoughts," 240–245. While the first designs for these ships were derived from the Norwegian coastal defense ship and the British (originally Chilean) , the contracted ships were to follow Armstrong Whitworth's Design 439 (Design 188 in Vickers' files). They would displace 11,800 long tons (12,000 tonnes), have a speed of , and be protected by belt armor of and deck armor of . Each ship would be armed with twelve guns mounted in six twin turrets. These turrets would be mounted in a hexagonal configuration, similar to the later German s.Topliss, "The Brazilian Dreadnoughts," 244–246.
Alarmed, the American ambassador to Brazil sent a cablegram to his Department of State in September 1906, warning them of the destabilization that would occur if the situation devolved into a full naval arms race. At the same time, the American government under Theodore Roosevelt tried using diplomatic means to coerce the Brazilians into canceling their ships, but the attempts were dismissed, with the Baron of Rio Branco remarking that caving to the American demands would render Brazil as powerless as suzerain Cuba. The President of Brazil, Afonso Pena, supported the naval acquisitions in an address to the National Congress of Brazil in November 1906, as in his opinion the ships were necessary to replace the antiquated and obsolete vessels of the current navy.Livermore, "Battleship Diplomacy," 33.
Bidding and construction
Design 439 was modified before these ships were laid down, increasing the displacement to and making them slightly longer and wider. Two of these ships were laid down by Armstrong at Elswick in Newcastle upon Tyne (Minas Geraes and Rio de Janeiro), while the other was subcontracted out to Vickers in Barrow (São Paulo). However, the new dreadnought concept, which was showcased upon the completion of the namesake ship in December 1906, rendered the Brazilian ships obsolete.Topliss, "The Brazilian Dreadnoughts," 246. A transition to a few large warships was finalized with the selection of Rear Admiral Alexandrino Faria de Alencar for the powerful post of minister of the navy.Scheina, Naval History, 81. The money authorized for naval expansion was redirected by de Alencar to building two dreadnoughts, with plans for a third dreadnought after the first was completed, two scout cruisers (which became the Bahia class), ten destroyers (the Pará class), and three submarines."Brazil," Naval Engineers, 883–884. The three battleships on which construction had just begun were demolished beginning on 7 January 1907.
An entirely new design incorporating the latest dreadnought technology was drawn up by J.R. Perrett, the head of Elswick Ordnance Company, and approved by the Brazilian government on 20 February 1907."Brazil," Naval Engineers, 834. Argentina and Chile immediately annulled the 1902 treaty that had ended their naval arms race, and both planned to expand their own navies, though Chile was delayed by a financial depression in 1907 and a major earthquake the next year.
, the lead ship, was laid down by Armstrong on 17 April 1907, while its sister ship followed thirteen days later at Vickers. Construction of the partial hull needed to launch Minas Geraes was delayed by a four-month strike to 10 September 1908, and São Paulo followed on 19 April 1909.Scheina, Naval History, 321.Scheina, "Brazil," 404.Topliss, "The Brazilian Dreadnoughts," 249."Minas Geraes I," Serviço de Documentação da Marinha – Histórico de Navios."São Paulo I," Serviço de Documentação da Marinha – Histórico de Navios. Both were christened in front of large crowds by the wife of Francisco Régis de Oliveira, the Brazilian ambassador to the United Kingdom."Launch Greatest Warships," The New York Times, 11 September 1908, 5."Launch Brazil's Battleship," The New York Times, 20 April 1909, 5. After multiple trials of the speed, endurance, efficiency, and weaponry of the ship,"The Brazilian Battleship," United States Artillery, 185–188."The Brazilian Battleship," Scientific American, 240–241. Minas Geraes was completed and handed over to Brazil on 5 January 1910."The Minas Geraes," The Times, 6 January 1910, 4d. São Paulo followed in July, after its own trials."Trials of the Sao Paulo," The Times, 3 June 1910, 7c."Gun Trials of the Sao Paulo," The Times, 4 June 1910, 9b. The third dreadnought, which would have been named and was provided for in the original contract, was laid down on 16 March, but as the ship had already been eclipsed by new naval technology (chiefly the advent of super-dreadnoughts, beginning with the British ), the Brazilian government canceled it on 7 May and asked Armstrong to prepare a new design.Topliss, "The Brazilian Dreadnoughts," 249, 254.
At this time, the dreadnought design had not been fully validated, despite the success of the British namesake;Scheina, Naval History, 354. for example, there were still concerns that the Minas Geraes class' superfiring turret arrangement—which had not been utilized on the original Dreadnought, but was also being installed on the American —would cause blast to hurt the crew in the lower turret."The Brazilian Battleship," United States Artillery, 187–188."The New Brazilian Battleships," The Times, 22 January 1910, 16f. Any immediate concerns, however, were mitigated during the firing tests when no ill effects were observed, though the Times (London) reported that there were still concerns registered during São Paulos gun trials in June 1910.
International reaction
The start of work on Minas Geraes meant that Brazil had become the third country—behind the United Kingdom and the United States but ahead of major powers such as Germany, France, Russia and Japan—to have a dreadnought under construction.Whitley, Battleships, 13.
The order for the dreadnoughts caused an immediate stir in the United States and Europe; in the words of the British Navy League Annual, they "astonished the naval world".Quoted in Scheina, Naval History, 81 from The Navy League Annual, 1910–1911, 103. The American New York Times opened an article on Minas Geraes launch with "What on paper at least is the most powerful warship ever built for any navy ...", while Scientific American called Minas Geraes "the last word in heavy battleship design and the ... most powerfully armed warship afloat.""The Brazilian Battleship," Scientific American, 240. Some publications, like the American Advocate of Peace, decried the dreadnought purchase for its cost, calling it "a showy and pretentious naval policy seemingly for the sheer indulgence of national pride" and continuing with "[sinking] money into useless warships when, it is understood, foreign money has had to be borrowed for city improvements in Rio de Janeiro is pitiful politics."Mead, "Reaction," 238–239.
The British House of Commons debated purchasing the ships in March 1908 to bolster the Royal Navy while simultaneously ensuring they would not be sold to a foreign rival. The topic arose again in July and September, when Arthur Lee expressed his discomfort at the possible final dispositions of the Brazilian ships, as any sale had the potential to disrupt their "Two-Power Standard"."British and Foreign News," Evening Post, 12 September 1908, 13. International Marine Engineering analyzed the effect of a sale to Japan, stating that the total broadside weight of Japan's line of battle would be increased by 31.6%, and the only ships capable of matching the Minas Geraes in the near future would be the American and German es."The Brazilian Dreadnoughts," International Marine Engineering, 362–363.