Minas Geraes (Brazilian battleship)

Type

Battleship

Period

20th Century

Nation

Other

Overview: Minas Geraes was a dreadnought battleship of the Brazilian Navy and lead ship of her class, built to make Brazil the third nation to have a dreadnought under construction. Her arrival triggered the South American dreadnought race among Brazil, Argentina, and Chile, briefly making her the most heavily armed warship in the world. Specifications: Built by Armstrong Whitworth and completed in January 1910, she is listed with a normal displacement around 19,281 tonnes (up to 21,200 tonnes full load), an overall length of 543 ft (166 m), and an 83 ft (25 m) beam. Her armament as built comprised 12 × 12 in (305 mm)/45 cal guns (6 × 2); 22 × 4.7 (120 mm)/50 cal guns; 8 × 3-pounder (47 mm) guns, with a 9-inch (230mm) armor belt, and she made 21 knots on two-shaft Vickers triple-expansion engines fed by Babcock & Wilcox boilers. Service History: Shortly after commissioning, Minas Geraes was the focal point of the Revolt of the Lash, a mutiny that spread to other ships in the Navy, including sister ship São Paulo, the coastal defense ship Deodoro, and the cruiser Bahia. She later underwent modernization — São Paulo underwent modernization in the United States in 1920; in 1921, Minas Geraes received the same treatment — and was further overhauled at Rio de Janeiro Naval Yard in the 1930s. During the Second World War, the ship was anchored in Salvador as the main defense of the port, as it was too old to play an active part in the war. Notable Facts: Two months after its completion in January 1910, Minas Geraes was featured in Scientific American, which described it as "the last word in heavy battleship design and the ... most powerfully armed warship afloat". Unlike her sister São Paulo — sold in 1951 to a British shipbreaker, but 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 for breaking up. A 1:48 scale builder's model of Minas Geraes is held by the Royal Museums Greenwich collection, useful for modelers studying hull detailing and paint scheme.