The Minas Gerais Class Ships
Three Minas Gerais (Minas Geraes) class ships were ordered in 1906 from British Yards. They started a naval arms race in South America. Only two were completed, Minas Gerais and São Paulo. The armored ships could make 21 knots on coal fired power plants, weighed 21,000 tons when fully loaded and carried a dozen 12 inch (305mm) naval guns. When completed they were classed as some of the most deadly ships in the world. No sooner had they arrived at their home country, they found themselves wrapped up in a series of nearly a dozen coups, mutinies, and rebellions over their lifespan. These included the 1910 Revolt of the Whip which was best classified as the "Brazilian Potemkin Rebellion", the Tenente Revolts where the ships bombarded Fort Copacabana, and others.
In October 1917 when Brazil declared war on Germany in World War One they offered the two Minas Gerais vessels to join the British Grand Fleet. The poor material condition of the decade old ships and lack of modern fire control and anti-submarine equipment and training led to this offer being declined. Nonetheless Brazil did use the Minas Gerais for patrol duty in South Atlantic waters while sending the Sao Paulo for modernization in the United States. By 1930 the Sao Paulo, her power plant never changed over from being coal fired, was largely immobile and in reserve status. The Minas Gerais was refit in the 1930s and remained more active. During World War Two both ships, now in their 30's, were restricted to port and used for coastal defense and training. They were both quietly stricken and sold off in 1951 and 1954 respectively. Their names were later given to Brazilian aircraft carriers.
The Rio de Janeiro
In 1911 a 27,500 ton Brazilian battleship was laid down in England. To be named Rio de Janeiro, she was an answer to the Argentine order of three Rivadavida class ships in the United States. The Rio de Janeiro was a unique ship, some 9,000 tons heavier, faster and better armored than the earlier Minas Gerais class of battleships. She was also fitted with a seventh gun turret giving her a total of fourteen 12 inch guns. This immense broadside was very respectable. Shortly after her order was placed however Brazil’s economic health was delivered its own broadside when the bottom fell out of the global rubber market. Brazil canceled the third vessel of the Minas Gerais class as well as the Rio de Janeiro. Already nearing completion on the builder’s slip way she was sold for just over two million pounds to the Ottoman Empire. The Royal Navy seized the vessel before it could be delivered to the Ottomans in 1914 and she served as the HMS Agincourt in World War One. At the Battle of Jutland she fired 14 full salvos at a range of 10,000 yards hitting the Wiesbaden, Markgraf, and the Kaiser. In all she fired 196 12" shells without any damage to herself making her one of the luckiest and most prolific dreadnoughts in the engagement. After surviving the war she was offered back to Brazil in 1919. Brazil declined and the ship was scrapped in 1922.
Sources
ARGENTINA'S SHIP READY.; Battleship Rivadavia Placed in Commission at Charlestown Navy Yard. New York Times August 28, 1914
Gardiner Robert Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1906-1921
Gardiner Robert Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1922-1946
Haze Grey and Underway database
Sharpe Jane’s Fighting Ships, various editions
Whitley, M.J.. Battleships of World War Two - An International Encyclopedia. Weidenfeld Military, 1998.
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