Piauí was a destroyer of the Brazilian Navy, serving from 1909 to 1944. She was named after the Brazilian state of Piauí.
Description and Construction
In 1904 Brazil adopted an ambitious plan to renovate and modernize its Navy. The Naval Renovation Program was negotiated and enacted in December 1904 and envisioned acquisition of large number of vessels, including a dozen destroyers. In 1906 the program was modified reducing the total number of destroyers to ten. These ships became known as destroyers.
The ship had an overall length of , a beam of and a draught of . She was powered by 2 triple expansion reciprocating steam engines, driving two shafts, which developed a total of and gave a maximum design speed of . During the trials the contract speed was exceeded, and the vessel was clocked at . Steam for the turbines was provided by two double-ended Yarrow boilers. Piauí carried a maximum of of coal that gave her a range of approximately at .
The ship mounted two guns in single mounts. In addition, four 47 mm (3pdr) cannons in single mounts were deployed at the time of launching.
Upon completion of sea trials, Piauí was officially delivered to the Brazilian government on 21 December 1908, with Captain Pedro de Frontin serving as her commander. She left Yarrow's yard on 28 December, and departed for Brazil on 31 December. The destroyer reached Falmouth in the morning of 2 January 1909, spent three days there, leaving for Vigo on 5 January and reaching it two days later. Piauí departed Vigo on 10 January for Lisbon where she arrived on the same day. The destroyer left Lisbon on 23 January and reached Las Palmas on 25 January. On 30 January she sailed out from Las Palmas for Cabo Verde, arriving in St. Vicente on 1 February. After spending four days in port, Piauí left St. Vicente on 5 February, and successfully arrived in Recife shortly after 11:00 on 10 February 1909. At about 04:00 on 14 February 1909 the ship departed Recife for Bahia where she arrived after a 21 hour journey.
References
Bibliography Gardiner, Robert and Randal Gray, eds. Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1985. . . "CT Piauhy - CT 3." Navios De Guerra Brasileiros. Accessed 27 August 2017.