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Brazilian battleship Minas Geraes

Minas Geraes, spelled Minas Gerais in some sources,[B] was a dreadnought battleship of the Brazilian Navy. Named in honor of the state of Minas Gerais, the ship was laid down in April 1907 as the lead ship of its class, making the country the third to have a dreadnought under construction and igniting a naval arms race between Brazil, Argentina, and Chile.

Minas Geraes at sea, probably in 1909
History
Brazil
NameMinas Geraes
NamesakeThe state of Minas Gerais[3]
Ordered1906[3]
BuilderArmstrong Whitworth[3]
Cost$8,863,842[7]
Yard number791[1]
Laid down17 April 1907[3]
Launched10 September 1908[3][4]
Completed5 January 1910[1][2]
Commissioned18 April 1910[5]
Decommissioned16 May 1952
Stricken31 December 1952[5][6]
FateScrapped 1954[5][6]
General characteristics
Class and typeMinas Geraes-class battleship
Displacement
Length
  • 543 ft (166 m) overall
  • 530 ft (160 m) at waterline
Beam83 ft (25 m)
Draft25 ft (7.6 m)
Propulsion
Speed21 knots (24 mph; 39 km/h)
Range10,000 nmi (12,000 mi; 19,000 km) at 10 knots (12 mph; 19 km/h)
Complement900[A]
Armament
Armor
  • Belt: 9 inches (230 mm)
  • Belt extremities: 6–4 in (150–100 mm)
  • Casemate: 9 inches (230 mm)
  • Turrets: 12–9 in (300–230 mm)
  • Conning tower: 12 inches (300 mm)

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".[8] In November 1910, Minas Geraes was the focal point of the Revolt of the Lash. The mutiny, triggered by racism and physical abuse, spread from Minas Geraes to other ships in the Navy, including its sister São Paulo, the elderly coastal defense ship Deodoro, and the recently commissioned cruiser Bahia. Led by João Cândido Felisberto, the mutineers threatened to bombard the Brazilian capital of Rio de Janeiro if their demands were not met. As it was not possible to end the situation militarily—the only loyal troops nearby being small torpedo boats and army troops confined to land—the National Congress of Brazil conceded to the rebels' demands, including a grant of amnesty, peacefully ending the mutiny.

When Brazil entered the First World War in 1917, Britain's Royal Navy declined Brazil's offer of Minas Geraes for duty with the Grand Fleet because the ship was outdated; it had not been refitted since entering service, so range-finders and a fire-control system had not been added. São Paulo underwent modernization in the United States in 1920; in 1921, Minas Geraes received the same treatment. A year later, Minas Geraes sailed to counter the first of the Tenente revolts. São Paulo shelled the rebels' fort, and they surrendered shortly thereafter; Minas Geraes did not fire its guns. In 1924, mutineers seized São Paulo and attempted to persuade the crews of Minas Geraes and several other ships to join them, but were unsuccessful.

Minas Geraes was modernized at the Rio de Janeiro Naval Yard in the 1930s, and underwent further refitting from 1939 to 1943. 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. For the last nine years of its service life, Minas Geraes remained largely inactive, and was towed to Italy for scrapping in March 1954.

Background Edit

 
View of the Minas Geraes from above one of the gun turrets

Beginning in the late 1880s, Brazil's navy fell into obsolescence, helped along by an 1889 revolution, which deposed Emperor Dom Pedro II, and naval revolts in 1891 and 1893–94.[9] By the turn of the 20th century it was lagging behind the Chilean and Argentine navies in quality and total tonnage,[10][C] despite Brazil having nearly three times the population of Argentina and almost five times the population of Chile.[12]

At the turn of the twentieth century, soaring demand for coffee and rubber brought prosperity to the Brazilian economy.[13] The government of Brazil used some of the extra money from this economic growth to finance a large naval building program in 1904,[3] which authorized the construction of a large number of warships, including three battleships.[14] The Minister of the Navy, Admiral Júlio César de Noronha, signed a contract with Armstrong Whitworth for three battleships on 23 July 1906.[15] While the first designs for these ships were derived from the Norwegian coastal defense ship Norge and the British (originally Chilean) Swiftsure class,[D] 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 19 knots (22 mph; 35 km/h), and be protected by belt armor of 9 inches (23 cm) and deck armor of 1.5 in (3.8 cm). Each ship would be armed with twelve 10-inch (25 cm) guns mounted in six twin turrets. These turrets would be mounted in a hexagonal configuration, similar to the later German Nassau-class battleships.[17]

Two of these ships were laid down by Armstrong in Elswick (Minas Geraes and Rio de Janeiro), while the other was subcontracted out to Vickers in Barrow (São Paulo). The new dreadnought concept, which premiered in December 1906 upon the completion of the namesake ship in December 1906, rendered the Brazilian ships obsolete.[18] The money authorized for naval expansion was redirected by new Minister of the Navy, Rear Admiral Alexandrino Faria de Alencar [pt], 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 (the Foca class).[19] The three battleships on which construction had just begun were demolished beginning on 7 January 1907, and the design of the new dreadnoughts was approved by the Brazilians on 20 February 1907.[18]

Even though the greater cost of these ships meant that only two ships could begin immediately, plans went ahead.[20] Minas Geraes, the lead ship, was laid down by Armstrong on 17 April 1907, while São Paulo followed thirteen days later at Vickers.[21] The news shocked Brazil's neighbors, especially Argentina, whose Minister of Foreign Affairs remarked that either Minas Geraes or São Paulo could destroy the entire Argentine and Chilean fleets.[22] In addition, Brazil's order meant that they had laid down a dreadnought before many of the other major maritime powers, such as Germany, France or Russia,[E] and the two ships made Brazil just the third country to have dreadnoughts under construction, behind the United Kingdom and the United States.[24] In particular, the United States now actively attempted to court Brazil as an ally; caught up in the spirit, U.S. naval journals began using terms like "Pan Americanism" and "Hemispheric Cooperation". Newspapers and journals around the world, particularly in Britain and Germany, speculated that Brazil was acting as a proxy for a naval power which would take possession of the two dreadnoughts soon after completion, as they did not believe that a previously insignificant geopolitical power would contract for such powerful armament.[25]

Early career Edit

 
Minas Geraes' superstructure and fore main guns in 1910; note the presence of wing turrets on either side of the superstructure

Minas Geraes was christened by Senhora Regis de Oliveira, the wife of the Brazilian minister to Great Britain,[26] and launched at Newcastle-on-Tyne on 10 September 1908.[4] During fitting-out, it was moved to Vickers' Walker Yard, and thousands turned out to see the incomplete ship squeeze barely underneath and through overhead and swing bridges.[27] After completion, Minas Geraes was handed over by Armstrong on 5 January to the Brazilian Commission on behalf of the Brazilian government, while the ship's company was mustered on deck.[2] The British Royal Navy carried out its gunnery trials at the request of Armstrong's and with the agreement of the Brazilian government.[28] Although the idea of having superfiring turrets was not new—the American South Carolina-class battleships were also designed and built in this fashion around the same time—the trials attracted interest from a few nations, who sent representatives to observe. They wanted to resolve two major questions: the effect that firing the upper superfiring turrets would have on the crewmen in the lower guns, and whether smoke from the discharge of the lower guns would hinder the targeting capabilities of the upper turret. The tests resolved both questions satisfactorily.[8]

Minas Geraes left the Tyne on 5 February 1910 and traveled to Plymouth before beginning a voyage to the United States on 8 February.[29] When the ship reached Norfolk, Virginia, it escorted the American armored cruiser North Carolina, which was carrying the body of the former Brazilian ambassador to the United States Joaquim Nabuco (who had died in Washington, D.C., on 17 January) to Rio de Janeiro.[30] The two ships set sail on 17 March 1910 and reached Rio de Janeiro one month later,[31] where Minas Geraes was commissioned into the Brazilian Navy on 18 April.[5]

Soon after Minas Geraes' arrival in Brazil, the country's prosperity began to wane, and a severe depression hit the Brazilian economy.[3] The economic hardship, the racism prevalent in all branches of the Brazilian armed forces,[32] and the severe discipline enforced on all navy ships spawned a mutiny known as the Revolt of the Lash, or Revolta da Chibata, among sailors on the most powerful ships.[33]

Revolt of the Lash Edit

 
Afro-Brazilian and pardo sailors pose for a photographer on board Minas Geraes, probably during the ship's visit to the United States in early 1913.

The initial spark was provided on 16 November 1910 when Afro-Brazilian sailor Marcelino Rodrigues Menezes was brutally flogged 250 times for insubordination. The sailor's back was later described by José Carlos de Carvalho, a retired navy captain assigned to be the Brazilian government's representative to the mutineers, as "a mullet sliced open for salting."[34] Many Afro-Brazilian sailors were sons of former slaves, or were former slaves freed under the Lei Áurea (abolition) but forced to enter the navy. They had been planning a revolt for some time, and Menezes became the catalyst. The revolt began aboard Minas Geraes at around 10 pm on 22 November; the ship's commander and several loyal crewmen were murdered in the process. Soon after, São Paulo, the new cruiser Bahia, the coast-defense ship Deodoro, the minelayer República, the training ship Benjamin Constant, and the torpedo boats Tamoio and Tymbira all revolted with relatively little violence. The first four ships represented the newest and strongest ships in the navy; Minas Geraes, São Paulo, and Bahia had been completed and commissioned only months before. Deodoro was twelve years old and had recently undergone a refit. The crews of the smaller warships made up only two percent of the mutineers, and some moved to the largest ships after the revolt began.[35]

The ships were well-supplied with foodstuffs, ammunition, and coal, and the only demand of mutineers—led by João Cândido Felisberto—was the abolition of what they called slavery: they objected to low pay, long hours, inadequate training, and punishments including bolo (being struck on the hand with a ferrule) and the use of whips or lashes (chibata), which eventually became a symbol of the revolt. By the 23rd, the National Congress had begun discussing the possibility of a general amnesty for the sailors. Senator Ruy Barbosa, long an opponent of slavery, lent a large amount of support, and the measure unanimously passed the Federal Senate on 24 November. The measure was then sent to the Chamber of Deputies.[36]

Humiliated by the revolt, naval officers and the president of Brazil were staunchly opposed to amnesty, so they quickly began planning to assault the rebel ships. The officers believed such an action was necessary to restore the service's honor. The rebels, believing an attack was imminent, sailed their ships out of Guanabara Bay and spent the night of 23–24 November at sea, only returning during daylight. Late on the 24th, the President ordered the naval officers to attack the mutineers. Officers crewed some smaller warships and the cruiser Rio Grande do Sul, Bahia's sister ship with ten 4.7-inch guns. They planned to attack on the morning of the 25th, when the government expected the mutineers would return to Guanabara Bay. When they did not return and the amnesty measure neared passage in the Chamber of Deputies, the order was rescinded. After the bill passed 125–23 and the president signed it into law, the mutineers stood down on the 26th.[37]

During the revolt, the ships were noted by many observers to be well handled, despite a previous belief that the Brazilian Navy was incapable of effectively operating the ships even before being split by a rebellion. João Cândido Felisberto ordered all liquor thrown overboard, and discipline on the ships was recognized as exemplary. The 4.7-inch guns were often used for shots over the city, but the 12-inch guns were not, which led to a suspicion among the naval officers that the rebels were incapable of using the weapons. Later research and interviews indicate that Minas Geraes' guns were fully operational, and while São Paulo's could not be turned after salt water contaminated the hydraulic system, British engineers still on board the ship after the voyage from the United Kingdom were working on the problem. Still, historians have never ascertained how well the mutineers could handle the ships.[38]

The crews of the torpedo boats remained loyal to the government,[39] and army troops moved to the presidential palace and the coastline, but neither group could stop the mutineers;[32] a major problem for the authorities was that many of the men who manned Rio de Janeiro's harbor defenses were sympathetic to the mutineers' cause.[39] The additional possibility of the capital being bombarded forced the National Congress of Brazil to give in to the rebels' demands.[32] The demands included the abolition of flogging, improved living conditions, and the granting of amnesty to all mutineers.[32][39] The government also issued official pardons and a statement of regret. Its submission resulted in the rebellion's end on 26 November, when control of the four ships was handed back to the navy.[32]

In 1913, Minas Geraes took the Brazilian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lauro Müller, to the United States, reciprocating the visit U.S. Secretary of State Elihu Root had paid to Brazil seven years earlier.[40]

First World War Edit

 
Minas Geraes' gun trials; this picture was taken when ten 12-inch guns were trained to port to fire a full broadside. A Scientific American article of 1910 remarked that this was "the greatest broadside ever fired from a battleship".[8]

Even though the First World War did not touch Brazilian soil, it had crushing effects on Brazil's economy.[41] Prices for rubber and coffee plummeted; the war had only a small need for rubber, and Britain allowed no coffee into Europe as space on merchant ships was reserved for "essential items". In addition, coffee was declared to be contraband, so every Brazilian shipment to the Central Powers was subject to search and seizure; even shipments to some neutral countries were barred to ensure that no coffee would get through. Despite these restrictions, neutral[F] Brazil was pro-Allied for the first three years of the war because of its sizable merchant fleet; as merchantmen from Allied countries were sunk, Brazilian ships were able to take over routes that had been vacated. This policy exposed them to attack by German submarines, and after the German declaration of unrestricted submarine warfare in February 1917, several Brazilian ships were sunk, driving the country closer to declaring war on the Central Powers.[41]

Brazil revoked its neutrality in the war between the United States and Germany on 1 June 1917, but did not declare war. At the same time, all German merchant ships interned in Brazilian harbors, 45 in all, were boarded and seized; most were unusable due to neglect or sabotage. On 28 June, Brazil revoked its neutrality between all of the Allied and Central Powers, allowing Brazilian merchantmen to travel in Allied convoys, but again stopped short of declaring war.[43]

The Brazilian Navy was sent out to patrol the South Atlantic with French, British and American naval units, although none of its ships had anti-submarine capabilities and, not being at war with the Central Powers, its ships were not supposed to engage any threat outside territorial waters.[44] Another Brazilian merchant ship, Macao,[45][46] was sunk by German submarine U-93 off Spain on 18 October, and eight days later Brazil declared war.[44]

Brazil offered to send Minas Geraes and São Paulo to serve with the British Grand Fleet, but this offer was declined because both ships were in poor condition and lacked modern fire-control systems. Neither of the two dreadnoughts had undergone any form of refitting since their original construction in Britain.[47] Fourteen of São Paulo's eighteen boilers failed when sailing to New York in June 1918 for a modernization.[48]

Inter-war period Edit

 
Sketches of a Minas Geraes–class ship from the 1923 Brassey's Naval and Shipping Annual, depicting the ships after their 1920s refits in the United States

São Paulo's refit was finished on 17 January 1920 and it returned to Brazil; on 15 July Minas Geraes departed for New York for its own refit.[49][50] Beginning on 22 August,[51] the day it arrived,[52] and finishing on 4 October 1921,[51] the battleship was dramatically modernized, with Sperry fire-control equipment and Bausch and Lomb range-finders for the two superfiring turrets fore and aft. A vertical armor bulkhead was fitted inside the main turrets, and the secondary battery of 4.7 in (120 mm) guns was reduced from 22 to 12; five guns in casemates were removed from each side. A few modern AA guns were fitted: two 3"/50 caliber guns from Bethlehem Steel were added on the aft superstructure, 37 mm (1.5 in) guns were added near each turret, and 3-pounder guns were removed from the tops of turrets.[49] While being refitted on 16 September 1921, a squad of Brazilian sailors stood at attention on the rear deck of the ship as the remains of the crew of the ZR-2 dirigible disaster passed by on the British light cruiser HMS Dauntless.[53]

In July 1922, Minas Geraes joined São Paulo in helping to quash the first of the Revolução Tenentista (English: Tenente revolts), in which the garrison of Rio de Janeiro's Fort Copacabana rebelled and began bombarding the city. São Paulo shelled the fort, and the rebels surrendered shortly thereafter; Minas Geraes did not fire its guns.[54]

 
Aerial view of Minas Geraes after modernization.

In 1924, Minas Geraes was involved in another mutiny, but remained on the side of the government. First Lieutenant Hercolino Cascardo, seven second lieutenants and others commandeered São Paulo in Rio de Janeiro's harbor on 4 November 1924. Their goal was to force the government to release prisoners who had participated in the 1922 Tenente revolts from confinement aboard the prison ship Cuibaba; the mutineers' demands were not met. São Paulo's boilers were then fired, and the ship "steamed menacingly" around Minas Geraes in an attempt to entice its and other ships to join the rebellion. São Paulo was only able to sway the crew of one old torpedo boat to its cause. Its crew, angry that Minas Geraes would not join them, shot a six-pounder at Minas Geraes, wounding a cook. The mutineers then sailed out of the harbor, exchanging shots with forts at the entrance along the way, and set course for Montevideo, Uruguay. The condensers failed along the way, and they reached Montevideo on 10 November making only 9 knots (10 mph; 17 km/h). The rebellious members of the crew disembarked and were granted asylum, while the remainder re-hoisted the colors of Brazil.[6][55][56]

Between June 1931 and April 1938, Minas Geraes was totally reconstructed and modernized at the Rio de Janeiro Naval Yard. It was converted from its old coal–oil combination to all-oil firing. All eighteen of the original Babcock & Wilcox boilers were replaced by six new John I. Thornycroft & Company boilers. The former No. 1 boiler room and all twelve of the side coal bunkers were converted to fuel oil storage tanks; the upper coal bunkers were removed. In addition, Minas Geraes' dynamos were replaced with new turbogenerators. The most striking aesthetic change was the trunking of the boiler uptakes into a single funnel. The fire-control systems that had been fitted after the First World War were also modernized in favor of Zeiss range-finders. The guns were overhauled; two extra 4.7 in (120 mm) guns were added making 14 total, and six 20 mm (0.79 in) Madsen guns were installed, including two on the top of 'X' turret. The maximum elevation of the 12-inch guns was increased from 13° to 18°.[49][57]

Second World War and later career Edit

 
Minas Geraes in Salvador during 1942, after its major refit

As in the First World War, Brazil was neutral during the early years of the Second World War. German attacks on Brazilian merchant ships pushed the country into war on the Allied side; Brazil declared war on 21 August 1942, taking effect on 31 August.[58]

Apart from three destroyers launched in 1940 and four submarines from the inter-war years,[59][G] Brazil's warships were old and mostly obsolete pre-First World War vessels.[59] The mainstays of the fleet, Minas Geraes, São Paulo, Bahia, and Rio Grande do Sul, were all over thirty years old.[59][62] Although Minas Geraes had been further refitted from 1939 to 1943, the ship was still too old and in too poor a condition for any active role in the Second World War; instead, the dreadnought was anchored as a floating battery in the port of Salvador for the duration of the war.[6][59]

Minas Geraes was inactive for much of the rest of its career. Decommissioned on 16 May 1952, it was used as a stationary headquarters for the Commander-in-Chief of the Brazilian Navy until 17 December of that year. The ship was removed from the naval register on 31 December,[6] and sold to the Italian ship breaking company SA Cantiere Navale de Santa Maria. Minas Geraes was taken under tow on 1 March 1954 and arrived in Genoa on 22 April;[6] the old dreadnought, which had been in service for more than forty years, was broken up for scrap later that year.[1]

Explanatory footnotes Edit

  1. ^ This is the number of crewmen the ship carried early in its career; with subsequent modifications, refits and modernizations, the figure would have varied.
  2. ^ Geraes was the spelling when the ship was commissioned, but later changes to Portuguese orthography deprecated it in favor of Gerais.
  3. ^ Chile's naval tonnage was 36,896 long tons (37,488 t), Argentina's 34,425 long tons (34,977 t), and Brazil's 27,661 long tons (28,105 t).[11] For an account of the Argentinian–Chilean naval arms races, see Scheina, Naval History, 45–52.
  4. ^ Incidentally, the Swiftsure class, named Constitución and Libertad before being bought by the British, were the two Chilean warships sold as part of the 1902 Argentinian–Chilean pacts that ended their naval arms race.[16]
  5. ^ Although Germany laid down Nassau two months after Minas Geraes, Nassau was commissioned first.[23]
  6. ^ Brazil officially declared its neutrality on 4 August 1914.[42]
  7. ^ Of the four modern submarines, there was a mine-laying submarine (Humaita) completed in 1927 and three submarines (Tupi, Tamoio and Timbira) completed in 1937; all were built by Italy. According to author Robert Schenia, these "were of limited operational value".[60] In addition, five Juruena-class destroyers were laid down in Britain in 1939, but were appropriated for use by the Royal Navy at the start of the war. Another three destroyers, of the Marcílio Dias class, were built in Brazil (and so were not appropriated); these were launched in 1940.[61]

Citations Edit

  1. ^ a b c "Minas Gerais (6103887)". Miramar Ship Index. Retrieved 28 April 2009.
  2. ^ a b "Naval and Military Intelligence," The Times, Official Appointments and Notices, 6 January 1910, 4, issue 39162, col. D.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Scheina, "Brazil," 404.
  4. ^ a b "Launch of a Brazilian Battleship," The Times, news section, 11 September 1908, 8, issue 38749, col. B.
  5. ^ a b c d "Minas Geraes", Navios De Guerra Brasileiros.
  6. ^ a b c d e f Whitley, Battleships, 29
  7. ^ Office of Naval Intelligence, Information Concerning Some of the Principal Navies of the World; A Series of Tables Compiled to Answer Popular Inquiry, Washington D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1912, 21.
  8. ^ a b c "The Brazilian Battleship Minas Geraes", Scientific American 102, no. 12, 19 March 1910, 240–241 (New York: Munn & Co., Inc.) ISSN 0036-8733 doi:10.1038/scientificamerican03191910-239 Bibcode:1910SciAm.102..239..
  9. ^ Barman, Citizen Emperor, 403; Topliss, "The Brazilian Dreadnoughts," 240; Livermore, "Battleship Diplomacy," 32; Martins, "Colossos do mares," 75.
  10. ^ Livermore, "Battleship Diplomacy," 32; Martins, "Colossos do mares," 75.
  11. ^ Livermore, "Battleship Diplomacy," 32.
  12. ^ Scheina, "Brazil," 403; Livermore, "Battleship Diplomacy," 32.
  13. ^ Scheina, "Brazil," 403.
  14. ^ Scheina, Naval History, 80; English, Armed Forces, 108.
  15. ^ Topliss, "The Brazilian Dreadnoughts," 240–245.
  16. ^ Scheina, Naval History, 52, 349.
  17. ^ Topliss, "The Brazilian Dreadnoughts," 244–246.
  18. ^ a b Topliss, "The Brazilian Dreadnoughts," 246.
  19. ^ Scheina, Naval History, 81; Journal of the American Society of Naval Engineers, "Brazil," 883.
  20. ^ Whitley, Battleships, 24.
  21. ^ Scheina, "Brazil," 404; Scheina, Naval History, 321; Topliss, "The Brazilian Dreadnoughts," 249.
  22. ^ Martins, "Colossos do mares," 76.
  23. ^ Scheina, "Brazil," 404; Campbell, "Germany," 145.
  24. ^ Scheina, "Brazil," 403; Whitley, Battleships, 13.
  25. ^ Scheina, "Brazil," 404; Martins, "Colossos do mares," 77.
  26. ^ "Launch Greatest Warships," New York Times, 11 September 1908, 5.
  27. ^ "New Brazilian Battleship," Times (London), 17 August 1909, 10b.
  28. ^ Tupper, Reminiscences, 185.
  29. ^ "Naval and Military Intelligence," The Times, 7 February 1910, 4f; "Naval and Military Intelligence," The Times, 9 February 1910, 8c.
  30. ^ Martins, "Colossos do mares," 76; "Minas Geraes Fogbound," The New York Times, 3 March 1910, 13; Whitley, Battleships, 27–28.
  31. ^ Whitley, Battleships, 27–28.
  32. ^ a b c d e Smallman, Fear & Memory, 28
  33. ^ Smallman, Fear & Memory, 28; Scheina, Latin America's Wars, 74.
  34. ^ Morgan, "The Revolt of the Lash," 41.
  35. ^ Love, Revolt, 20, 28–31, 35–36; Morgan, "Revolt of the Lash," 32–38.
  36. ^ Morgan, "The Revolt of the Lash," 40–42.
  37. ^ Morgan, "The Revolt of the Lash," 44–46.
  38. ^ Morgan, "The Revolt of the Lash," 39–40, 48–49, 52.
  39. ^ a b c Scheina, Latin America's Wars, 74
  40. ^ "Brazilian Envoy Host on Warship," New York Times, 12 July 1913, 7; "Tell Brazil's Envoy of Trade Problems," New York Times, 18 June 1913, 14.
  41. ^ a b Scheina, Latin America's Wars, pp. 35–36
  42. ^ Scheina, Latin America's Wars, 35–36.
  43. ^ Scheina, Latin America's Wars, 36
  44. ^ a b Scheina, Latin America's Wars, 35, 37–38
  45. ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Ships hit during WWI: Macao". German and Austrian U-boats of World War I - Kaiserliche Marine - Uboat.net. Retrieved 28 April 2009.
  46. ^ "Macao (5603380)". Miramar Ship Index. Retrieved 12 June 2009.
  47. ^ Roderick Barman, "Brazil in the First World War", History Today 64, no. 3 (March 2014), 26.
  48. ^ Whitley, Battleships, 28
  49. ^ a b c Whitley, Battleships, 27
  50. ^ "Brazilian Dreadnought Coming Here," The New York Times, 17 July 1920, 3 (PDF).
  51. ^ a b Whitley, Battleships, 26
  52. ^ "Brazilian Battleship Arrives," The New York Times, 11 (PDF).
  53. ^ "British Cruiser Brings Home Dead of ZR-2". New York Tribune. New York. 17 September 1921. p. 11.
  54. ^ Guilherme Poggio, Um encouraçado contra o forte: 2ª Parte, Poder Naval Online, n.d., accessed 10 June 2009 [, accessed 12 April 2009].
  55. ^ Mike Bennighof, "Brazil's Dreadnoughts," Avalanche Press, October 2006, accessed 16 April 2006.
  56. ^ Scheina, Latin America's Wars, 129
  57. ^ Gardiner and Chesneau, 416
  58. ^ Scheina, Latin America's Wars, 162–164
  59. ^ a b c d Scheina, Latin America's Wars, 164
  60. ^ Schenia, Latin America's Wars, 164.
  61. ^ Gardiner and Chesneau, Conway's, 416–17.
  62. ^ Gardiner and Gray (1984), pp. 404–405

References Edit

  • "." Navios De Guerra Brasileiros. Last modified 7 June 2009.
  • Gardiner, Robert and Roger Chesneau, eds. Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1980. ISBN 0-87021-913-8 OCLC 18121784
  • Gardiner, Robert and Randal Gray. Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1985 | ISBN 0-87021-907-3 OCLC 12119866
  • Martins Filho, João Roberto. " [Colossuses of the Seas]." Revista de História da Biblioteca Nacional 3, no. 27 (2007): 74–77. ISSN 1808-4001. OCLC 61697383.
  • Miller, David. Illustrated Directory of Warships of the World: From 1860 to the Present. Osceola: MBI Publishing Company, 2001. ISBN 0-7603-1127-7 OCLC 48527933
  • Scheina, Robert L. Latin America's Wars. Washington D.C.: Brassey's, 2003. ISBN 1-57488-452-2 OCLC 49942250
  • Sondhaus, Lawrence. Naval Warfare, 1815–1914. London and New York: Routledge, 2001. ISBN 0-415-21478-5 OCLC 44039349
  • Smallman, Shawn C. Fear & Memory in the Brazilian Army and Society, 1889–1954. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2002. ISBN 0-8078-5359-3 OCLC 250188940
  • Tupper, Admiral Sir Reginald G. O. Reminiscences. London: Jarrold & Sons, 1929. OCLC 2342481 ISBN 0-665-77708-6
  • Whitley, M. C. Battleships of World War Two. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1999. ISBN 1-55750-184-X OCLC 40834665

Further reading Edit

  • Martins Filho, João Roberto. "The Battleship Minas Geraes (1908)" in Bruce Taylor (editor), The World of the Battleship: The Lives and Careers of Twenty-One Capital Ships of the World's Navies, 1880–1990. Barnsley: Seaforth Publishing, 2018. ISBN 0870219065
  • Topliss, David (1988). "The Brazilian Dreadnoughts, 1904–1914". Warship International. XXV (3): 240–289. ISSN 0043-0374.

External links Edit

  • Minas Geraes (in Portuguese)
  • The Brazilian Battleships (Extensive engineering/technical details)
  • Solid Silver Model of the Brazilian Dreadnought Battleship Minas Geraes of 1910 ()
  • A shipbuilder's model of the Brazilian battleship Minas Geraes, Royal Museums Greenwich
  • Plans for the Brazilian Battleship Minas Geraes (1906) (US National Archives and Records Administration)

brazilian, battleship, minas, geraes, aircraft, carrier, brazilian, aircraft, carrier, minas, gerais, minas, geraes, spelled, minas, gerais, some, sources, dreadnought, battleship, brazilian, navy, named, honor, state, minas, gerais, ship, laid, down, april, 1. For the aircraft carrier see Brazilian aircraft carrier Minas Gerais Minas Geraes spelled Minas Gerais in some sources B was a dreadnought battleship of the Brazilian Navy Named in honor of the state of Minas Gerais the ship was laid down in April 1907 as the lead ship of its class making the country the third to have a dreadnought under construction and igniting a naval arms race between Brazil Argentina and Chile Minas Geraes at sea probably in 1909HistoryBrazilNameMinas GeraesNamesakeThe state of Minas Gerais 3 Ordered1906 3 BuilderArmstrong Whitworth 3 Cost 8 863 842 7 Yard number791 1 Laid down17 April 1907 3 Launched10 September 1908 3 4 Completed5 January 1910 1 2 Commissioned18 April 1910 5 Decommissioned16 May 1952Stricken31 December 1952 5 6 FateScrapped 1954 5 6 General characteristicsClass and typeMinas Geraes class battleshipDisplacement19 281 tonnes 18 976 long tons 21 254 short tons normal 21 200 t 20 900 long tons 23 400 short tons full loadLength543 ft 166 m overall 530 ft 160 m at waterlineBeam83 ft 25 m Draft25 ft 7 6 m Propulsion2 shaft Vickers VTE 18 Babcock amp Wilcox boilers 23 500 shpSpeed21 knots 24 mph 39 km h Range10 000 nmi 12 000 mi 19 000 km at 10 knots 12 mph 19 km h Complement900 A Armament as built 12 12 in 305 mm 45 cal guns 6 2 22 4 7 120 mm 50 cal guns 8 3 pounder 47 mm gunsArmorBelt 9 inches 230 mm Belt extremities 6 4 in 150 100 mm Casemate 9 inches 230 mm Turrets 12 9 in 300 230 mm Conning tower 12 inches 300 mm 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 8 In November 1910 Minas Geraes was the focal point of the Revolt of the Lash The mutiny triggered by racism and physical abuse spread from Minas Geraes to other ships in the Navy including its sister Sao Paulo the elderly coastal defense ship Deodoro and the recently commissioned cruiser Bahia Led by Joao Candido Felisberto the mutineers threatened to bombard the Brazilian capital of Rio de Janeiro if their demands were not met As it was not possible to end the situation militarily the only loyal troops nearby being small torpedo boats and army troops confined to land the National Congress of Brazil conceded to the rebels demands including a grant of amnesty peacefully ending the mutiny When Brazil entered the First World War in 1917 Britain s Royal Navy declined Brazil s offer of Minas Geraes for duty with the Grand Fleet because the ship was outdated it had not been refitted since entering service so range finders and a fire control system had not been added Sao Paulo underwent modernization in the United States in 1920 in 1921 Minas Geraes received the same treatment A year later Minas Geraes sailed to counter the first of the Tenente revolts Sao Paulo shelled the rebels fort and they surrendered shortly thereafter Minas Geraes did not fire its guns In 1924 mutineers seized Sao Paulo and attempted to persuade the crews of Minas Geraes and several other ships to join them but were unsuccessful Minas Geraes was modernized at the Rio de Janeiro Naval Yard in the 1930s and underwent further refitting from 1939 to 1943 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 For the last nine years of its service life Minas Geraes remained largely inactive and was towed to Italy for scrapping in March 1954 Contents 1 Background 2 Early career 2 1 Revolt of the Lash 3 First World War 4 Inter war period 5 Second World War and later career 6 Explanatory footnotes 7 Citations 8 References 9 Further reading 10 External linksBackground EditMain articles South American dreadnought race Argentine Chilean naval arms race and Minas Geraes class battleship nbsp View of the Minas Geraes from above one of the gun turretsBeginning in the late 1880s Brazil s navy fell into obsolescence helped along by an 1889 revolution which deposed Emperor Dom Pedro II and naval revolts in 1891 and 1893 94 9 By the turn of the 20th century it was lagging behind the Chilean and Argentine navies in quality and total tonnage 10 C despite Brazil having nearly three times the population of Argentina and almost five times the population of Chile 12 At the turn of the twentieth century soaring demand for coffee and rubber brought prosperity to the Brazilian economy 13 The government of Brazil used some of the extra money from this economic growth to finance a large naval building program in 1904 3 which authorized the construction of a large number of warships including three battleships 14 The Minister of the Navy Admiral Julio Cesar de Noronha signed a contract with Armstrong Whitworth for three battleships on 23 July 1906 15 While the first designs for these ships were derived from the Norwegian coastal defense ship Norge and the British originally Chilean Swiftsure class D 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 19 knots 22 mph 35 km h and be protected by belt armor of 9 inches 23 cm and deck armor of 1 5 in 3 8 cm Each ship would be armed with twelve 10 inch 25 cm guns mounted in six twin turrets These turrets would be mounted in a hexagonal configuration similar to the later German Nassau class battleships 17 Two of these ships were laid down by Armstrong in Elswick Minas Geraes and Rio de Janeiro while the other was subcontracted out to Vickers in Barrow Sao Paulo The new dreadnought concept which premiered in December 1906 upon the completion of the namesake ship in December 1906 rendered the Brazilian ships obsolete 18 The money authorized for naval expansion was redirected by new Minister of the Navy Rear Admiral Alexandrino Faria de Alencar pt 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 Para class and three submarines the Foca class 19 The three battleships on which construction had just begun were demolished beginning on 7 January 1907 and the design of the new dreadnoughts was approved by the Brazilians on 20 February 1907 18 Even though the greater cost of these ships meant that only two ships could begin immediately plans went ahead 20 Minas Geraes the lead ship was laid down by Armstrong on 17 April 1907 while Sao Paulo followed thirteen days later at Vickers 21 The news shocked Brazil s neighbors especially Argentina whose Minister of Foreign Affairs remarked that either Minas Geraes or Sao Paulo could destroy the entire Argentine and Chilean fleets 22 In addition Brazil s order meant that they had laid down a dreadnought before many of the other major maritime powers such as Germany France or Russia E and the two ships made Brazil just the third country to have dreadnoughts under construction behind the United Kingdom and the United States 24 In particular the United States now actively attempted to court Brazil as an ally caught up in the spirit U S naval journals began using terms like Pan Americanism and Hemispheric Cooperation Newspapers and journals around the world particularly in Britain and Germany speculated that Brazil was acting as a proxy for a naval power which would take possession of the two dreadnoughts soon after completion as they did not believe that a previously insignificant geopolitical power would contract for such powerful armament 25 Early career Edit nbsp Minas Geraes superstructure and fore main guns in 1910 note the presence of wing turrets on either side of the superstructureMinas Geraes was christened by Senhora Regis de Oliveira the wife of the Brazilian minister to Great Britain 26 and launched at Newcastle on Tyne on 10 September 1908 4 During fitting out it was moved to Vickers Walker Yard and thousands turned out to see the incomplete ship squeeze barely underneath and through overhead and swing bridges 27 After completion Minas Geraes was handed over by Armstrong on 5 January to the Brazilian Commission on behalf of the Brazilian government while the ship s company was mustered on deck 2 The British Royal Navy carried out its gunnery trials at the request of Armstrong s and with the agreement of the Brazilian government 28 Although the idea of having superfiring turrets was not new the American South Carolina class battleships were also designed and built in this fashion around the same time the trials attracted interest from a few nations who sent representatives to observe They wanted to resolve two major questions the effect that firing the upper superfiring turrets would have on the crewmen in the lower guns and whether smoke from the discharge of the lower guns would hinder the targeting capabilities of the upper turret The tests resolved both questions satisfactorily 8 Minas Geraes left the Tyne on 5 February 1910 and traveled to Plymouth before beginning a voyage to the United States on 8 February 29 When the ship reached Norfolk Virginia it escorted the American armored cruiser North Carolina which was carrying the body of the former Brazilian ambassador to the United States Joaquim Nabuco who had died in Washington D C on 17 January to Rio de Janeiro 30 The two ships set sail on 17 March 1910 and reached Rio de Janeiro one month later 31 where Minas Geraes was commissioned into the Brazilian Navy on 18 April 5 Soon after Minas Geraes arrival in Brazil the country s prosperity began to wane and a severe depression hit the Brazilian economy 3 The economic hardship the racism prevalent in all branches of the Brazilian armed forces 32 and the severe discipline enforced on all navy ships spawned a mutiny known as the Revolt of the Lash or Revolta da Chibata among sailors on the most powerful ships 33 nbsp Launch of the Minas Geraes nbsp Invitation to the launch of Minas Geraes on 10 September 1908 nbsp Minas Geraes painted in 1908 by Charles de Lacy for Armstrong Whitworth from printed booklet available at launch nbsp Arrangements of Guns and Armour of Minas Geraes c 1910Revolt of the Lash Edit Main article Revolt of the Lash nbsp Afro Brazilian and pardo sailors pose for a photographer on board Minas Geraes probably during the ship s visit to the United States in early 1913 The initial spark was provided on 16 November 1910 when Afro Brazilian sailor Marcelino Rodrigues Menezes was brutally flogged 250 times for insubordination The sailor s back was later described by Jose Carlos de Carvalho a retired navy captain assigned to be the Brazilian government s representative to the mutineers as a mullet sliced open for salting 34 Many Afro Brazilian sailors were sons of former slaves or were former slaves freed under the Lei Aurea abolition but forced to enter the navy They had been planning a revolt for some time and Menezes became the catalyst The revolt began aboard Minas Geraes at around 10 pm on 22 November the ship s commander and several loyal crewmen were murdered in the process Soon after Sao Paulo the new cruiser Bahia the coast defense ship Deodoro the minelayer Republica the training ship Benjamin Constant and the torpedo boats Tamoio and Tymbira all revolted with relatively little violence The first four ships represented the newest and strongest ships in the navy Minas Geraes Sao Paulo and Bahia had been completed and commissioned only months before Deodoro was twelve years old and had recently undergone a refit The crews of the smaller warships made up only two percent of the mutineers and some moved to the largest ships after the revolt began 35 The ships were well supplied with foodstuffs ammunition and coal and the only demand of mutineers led by Joao Candido Felisberto was the abolition of what they called slavery they objected to low pay long hours inadequate training and punishments including bolo being struck on the hand with a ferrule and the use of whips or lashes chibata which eventually became a symbol of the revolt By the 23rd the National Congress had begun discussing the possibility of a general amnesty for the sailors Senator Ruy Barbosa long an opponent of slavery lent a large amount of support and the measure unanimously passed the Federal Senate on 24 November The measure was then sent to the Chamber of Deputies 36 Humiliated by the revolt naval officers and the president of Brazil were staunchly opposed to amnesty so they quickly began planning to assault the rebel ships The officers believed such an action was necessary to restore the service s honor The rebels believing an attack was imminent sailed their ships out of Guanabara Bay and spent the night of 23 24 November at sea only returning during daylight Late on the 24th the President ordered the naval officers to attack the mutineers Officers crewed some smaller warships and the cruiser Rio Grande do Sul Bahia s sister ship with ten 4 7 inch guns They planned to attack on the morning of the 25th when the government expected the mutineers would return to Guanabara Bay When they did not return and the amnesty measure neared passage in the Chamber of Deputies the order was rescinded After the bill passed 125 23 and the president signed it into law the mutineers stood down on the 26th 37 During the revolt the ships were noted by many observers to be well handled despite a previous belief that the Brazilian Navy was incapable of effectively operating the ships even before being split by a rebellion Joao Candido Felisberto ordered all liquor thrown overboard and discipline on the ships was recognized as exemplary The 4 7 inch guns were often used for shots over the city but the 12 inch guns were not which led to a suspicion among the naval officers that the rebels were incapable of using the weapons Later research and interviews indicate that Minas Geraes guns were fully operational and while Sao Paulo s could not be turned after salt water contaminated the hydraulic system British engineers still on board the ship after the voyage from the United Kingdom were working on the problem Still historians have never ascertained how well the mutineers could handle the ships 38 The crews of the torpedo boats remained loyal to the government 39 and army troops moved to the presidential palace and the coastline but neither group could stop the mutineers 32 a major problem for the authorities was that many of the men who manned Rio de Janeiro s harbor defenses were sympathetic to the mutineers cause 39 The additional possibility of the capital being bombarded forced the National Congress of Brazil to give in to the rebels demands 32 The demands included the abolition of flogging improved living conditions and the granting of amnesty to all mutineers 32 39 The government also issued official pardons and a statement of regret Its submission resulted in the rebellion s end on 26 November when control of the four ships was handed back to the navy 32 In 1913 Minas Geraes took the Brazilian Minister of Foreign Affairs Lauro Muller to the United States reciprocating the visit U S Secretary of State Elihu Root had paid to Brazil seven years earlier 40 First World War Edit nbsp Minas Geraes gun trials this picture was taken when ten 12 inch guns were trained to port to fire a full broadside A Scientific American article of 1910 remarked that this was the greatest broadside ever fired from a battleship 8 See also Brazil during the First World War Even though the First World War did not touch Brazilian soil it had crushing effects on Brazil s economy 41 Prices for rubber and coffee plummeted the war had only a small need for rubber and Britain allowed no coffee into Europe as space on merchant ships was reserved for essential items In addition coffee was declared to be contraband so every Brazilian shipment to the Central Powers was subject to search and seizure even shipments to some neutral countries were barred to ensure that no coffee would get through Despite these restrictions neutral F Brazil was pro Allied for the first three years of the war because of its sizable merchant fleet as merchantmen from Allied countries were sunk Brazilian ships were able to take over routes that had been vacated This policy exposed them to attack by German submarines and after the German declaration of unrestricted submarine warfare in February 1917 several Brazilian ships were sunk driving the country closer to declaring war on the Central Powers 41 Brazil revoked its neutrality in the war between the United States and Germany on 1 June 1917 but did not declare war At the same time all German merchant ships interned in Brazilian harbors 45 in all were boarded and seized most were unusable due to neglect or sabotage On 28 June Brazil revoked its neutrality between all of the Allied and Central Powers allowing Brazilian merchantmen to travel in Allied convoys but again stopped short of declaring war 43 The Brazilian Navy was sent out to patrol the South Atlantic with French British and American naval units although none of its ships had anti submarine capabilities and not being at war with the Central Powers its ships were not supposed to engage any threat outside territorial waters 44 Another Brazilian merchant ship Macao 45 46 was sunk by German submarine U 93 off Spain on 18 October and eight days later Brazil declared war 44 Brazil offered to send Minas Geraes and Sao Paulo to serve with the British Grand Fleet but this offer was declined because both ships were in poor condition and lacked modern fire control systems Neither of the two dreadnoughts had undergone any form of refitting since their original construction in Britain 47 Fourteen of Sao Paulo s eighteen boilers failed when sailing to New York in June 1918 for a modernization 48 Inter war period Edit nbsp Sketches of a Minas Geraes class ship from the 1923 Brassey s Naval and Shipping Annual depicting the ships after their 1920s refits in the United StatesSao Paulo s refit was finished on 17 January 1920 and it returned to Brazil on 15 July Minas Geraes departed for New York for its own refit 49 50 Beginning on 22 August 51 the day it arrived 52 and finishing on 4 October 1921 51 the battleship was dramatically modernized with Sperry fire control equipment and Bausch and Lomb range finders for the two superfiring turrets fore and aft A vertical armor bulkhead was fitted inside the main turrets and the secondary battery of 4 7 in 120 mm guns was reduced from 22 to 12 five guns in casemates were removed from each side A few modern AA guns were fitted two 3 50 caliber guns from Bethlehem Steel were added on the aft superstructure 37 mm 1 5 in guns were added near each turret and 3 pounder guns were removed from the tops of turrets 49 While being refitted on 16 September 1921 a squad of Brazilian sailors stood at attention on the rear deck of the ship as the remains of the crew of the ZR 2 dirigible disaster passed by on the British light cruiser HMS Dauntless 53 In July 1922 Minas Geraes joined Sao Paulo in helping to quash the first of the Revolucao Tenentista English Tenente revolts in which the garrison of Rio de Janeiro s Fort Copacabana rebelled and began bombarding the city Sao Paulo shelled the fort and the rebels surrendered shortly thereafter Minas Geraes did not fire its guns 54 nbsp Aerial view of Minas Geraes after modernization In 1924 Minas Geraes was involved in another mutiny but remained on the side of the government First Lieutenant Hercolino Cascardo seven second lieutenants and others commandeered Sao Paulo in Rio de Janeiro s harbor on 4 November 1924 Their goal was to force the government to release prisoners who had participated in the 1922 Tenente revolts from confinement aboard the prison ship Cuibaba the mutineers demands were not met Sao Paulo s boilers were then fired and the ship steamed menacingly around Minas Geraes in an attempt to entice its and other ships to join the rebellion Sao Paulo was only able to sway the crew of one old torpedo boat to its cause Its crew angry that Minas Geraes would not join them shot a six pounder at Minas Geraes wounding a cook The mutineers then sailed out of the harbor exchanging shots with forts at the entrance along the way and set course for Montevideo Uruguay The condensers failed along the way and they reached Montevideo on 10 November making only 9 knots 10 mph 17 km h The rebellious members of the crew disembarked and were granted asylum while the remainder re hoisted the colors of Brazil 6 55 56 Between June 1931 and April 1938 Minas Geraes was totally reconstructed and modernized at the Rio de Janeiro Naval Yard It was converted from its old coal oil combination to all oil firing All eighteen of the original Babcock amp Wilcox boilers were replaced by six new John I Thornycroft amp Company boilers The former No 1 boiler room and all twelve of the side coal bunkers were converted to fuel oil storage tanks the upper coal bunkers were removed In addition Minas Geraes dynamos were replaced with new turbogenerators The most striking aesthetic change was the trunking of the boiler uptakes into a single funnel The fire control systems that had been fitted after the First World War were also modernized in favor of Zeiss range finders The guns were overhauled two extra 4 7 in 120 mm guns were added making 14 total and six 20 mm 0 79 in Madsen guns were installed including two on the top of X turret The maximum elevation of the 12 inch guns was increased from 13 to 18 49 57 Second World War and later career Edit nbsp Minas Geraes in Salvador during 1942 after its major refitAs in the First World War Brazil was neutral during the early years of the Second World War German attacks on Brazilian merchant ships pushed the country into war on the Allied side Brazil declared war on 21 August 1942 taking effect on 31 August 58 Apart from three destroyers launched in 1940 and four submarines from the inter war years 59 G Brazil s warships were old and mostly obsolete pre First World War vessels 59 The mainstays of the fleet Minas Geraes Sao Paulo Bahia and Rio Grande do Sul were all over thirty years old 59 62 Although Minas Geraes had been further refitted from 1939 to 1943 the ship was still too old and in too poor a condition for any active role in the Second World War instead the dreadnought was anchored as a floating battery in the port of Salvador for the duration of the war 6 59 Minas Geraes was inactive for much of the rest of its career Decommissioned on 16 May 1952 it was used as a stationary headquarters for the Commander in Chief of the Brazilian Navy until 17 December of that year The ship was removed from the naval register on 31 December 6 and sold to the Italian ship breaking company SA Cantiere Navale de Santa Maria Minas Geraes was taken under tow on 1 March 1954 and arrived in Genoa on 22 April 6 the old dreadnought which had been in service for more than forty years was broken up for scrap later that year 1 Explanatory footnotes Edit This is the number of crewmen the ship carried early in its career with subsequent modifications refits and modernizations the figure would have varied Geraes was the spelling when the ship was commissioned but later changes to Portuguese orthography deprecated it in favor of Gerais Chile s naval tonnage was 36 896 long tons 37 488 t Argentina s 34 425 long tons 34 977 t and Brazil s 27 661 long tons 28 105 t 11 For an account of the Argentinian Chilean naval arms races see Scheina Naval History 45 52 Incidentally the Swiftsure class named Constitucion and Libertad before being bought by the British were the two Chilean warships sold as part of the 1902 Argentinian Chilean pacts that ended their naval arms race 16 Although Germany laid down Nassau two months after Minas Geraes Nassau was commissioned first 23 Brazil officially declared its neutrality on 4 August 1914 42 Of the four modern submarines there was a mine laying submarine Humaita completed in 1927 and three submarines Tupi Tamoio and Timbira completed in 1937 all were built by Italy According to author Robert Schenia these were of limited operational value 60 In addition five Juruena class destroyers were laid down in Britain in 1939 but were appropriated for use by the Royal Navy at the start of the war Another three destroyers of the Marcilio Dias class were built in Brazil and so were not appropriated these were launched in 1940 61 Citations Edit a b c Minas Gerais 6103887 Miramar Ship Index Retrieved 28 April 2009 a b Naval and Military Intelligence The Times Official Appointments and Notices 6 January 1910 4 issue 39162 col D a b c d e f g Scheina Brazil 404 a b Launch of a Brazilian Battleship The Times news section 11 September 1908 8 issue 38749 col B a b c d Minas Geraes Navios De Guerra Brasileiros a b c d e f Whitley Battleships 29 Office of Naval Intelligence Information Concerning Some of the Principal Navies of the World A Series of Tables Compiled to Answer Popular Inquiry Washington D C U S Government Printing Office 1912 21 a b c The Brazilian Battleship Minas Geraes Scientific American 102 no 12 19 March 1910 240 241 New York Munn amp Co Inc ISSN 0036 8733 doi 10 1038 scientificamerican03191910 239 Bibcode 1910SciAm 102 239 Barman Citizen Emperor 403 Topliss The Brazilian Dreadnoughts 240 Livermore Battleship Diplomacy 32 Martins Colossos do mares 75 Livermore Battleship Diplomacy 32 Martins Colossos do mares 75 Livermore Battleship Diplomacy 32 Scheina Brazil 403 Livermore Battleship Diplomacy 32 Scheina Brazil 403 Scheina Naval History 80 English Armed Forces 108 Topliss The Brazilian Dreadnoughts 240 245 Scheina Naval History 52 349 Topliss The Brazilian Dreadnoughts 244 246 a b Topliss The Brazilian Dreadnoughts 246 Scheina Naval History 81 Journal of the American Society of Naval Engineers Brazil 883 Whitley Battleships 24 Scheina Brazil 404 Scheina Naval History 321 Topliss The Brazilian Dreadnoughts 249 Martins Colossos do mares 76 Scheina Brazil 404 Campbell Germany 145 Scheina Brazil 403 Whitley Battleships 13 Scheina Brazil 404 Martins Colossos do mares 77 Launch Greatest Warships New York Times 11 September 1908 5 New Brazilian Battleship Times London 17 August 1909 10b Tupper Reminiscences 185 Naval and Military Intelligence The Times 7 February 1910 4f Naval and Military Intelligence The Times 9 February 1910 8c Martins Colossos do mares 76 Minas Geraes Fogbound The New York Times 3 March 1910 13 Whitley Battleships 27 28 Whitley Battleships 27 28 a b c d e Smallman Fear amp Memory 28 Smallman Fear amp Memory 28 Scheina Latin America s Wars 74 Morgan The Revolt of the Lash 41 Love Revolt 20 28 31 35 36 Morgan Revolt of the Lash 32 38 Morgan The Revolt of the Lash 40 42 Morgan The Revolt of the Lash 44 46 Morgan The Revolt of the Lash 39 40 48 49 52 a b c Scheina Latin America s Wars 74 Brazilian Envoy Host on Warship New York Times 12 July 1913 7 Tell Brazil s Envoy of Trade Problems New York Times 18 June 1913 14 a b Scheina Latin America s Wars pp 35 36 Scheina Latin America s Wars 35 36 Scheina Latin America s Wars 36 a b Scheina Latin America s Wars 35 37 38 Helgason Gudmundur Ships hit during WWI Macao German and Austrian U boats of World War I Kaiserliche Marine Uboat net Retrieved 28 April 2009 Macao 5603380 Miramar Ship Index Retrieved 12 June 2009 Roderick Barman Brazil in the First World War History Today 64 no 3 March 2014 26 Whitley Battleships 28 a b c Whitley Battleships 27 Brazilian Dreadnought Coming Here The New York Times 17 July 1920 3 PDF a b Whitley Battleships 26 Brazilian Battleship Arrives The New York Times 11 PDF British Cruiser Brings Home Dead of ZR 2 New York Tribune New York 17 September 1921 p 11 Guilherme Poggio Um encouracado contra o forte 2ª Parte Poder Naval Online n d accessed 10 June 2009 archived version accessed 12 April 2009 Mike Bennighof Brazil s Dreadnoughts Avalanche Press October 2006 accessed 16 April 2006 Scheina Latin America s Wars 129 Gardiner and Chesneau 416 Scheina Latin America s Wars 162 164 a b c d Scheina Latin America s Wars 164 Schenia Latin America s Wars 164 Gardiner and Chesneau Conway s 416 17 Gardiner and Gray 1984 pp 404 405References Edit E Minas Geraes Navios De Guerra Brasileiros Last modified 7 June 2009 Gardiner Robert and Roger Chesneau eds Conway s All the World s Fighting Ships 1922 1946 Annapolis Naval Institute Press 1980 ISBN 0 87021 913 8 OCLC 18121784 Gardiner Robert and Randal Gray Conway s All the World s Fighting Ships 1906 1921 Annapolis Naval Institute Press 1985 ISBN 0 87021 907 3 OCLC 12119866 Martins Filho Joao Roberto Colossos do mares Colossuses of the Seas Revista de Historia da Biblioteca Nacional 3 no 27 2007 74 77 ISSN 1808 4001 OCLC 61697383 Miller David Illustrated Directory of Warships of the World From 1860 to the Present Osceola MBI Publishing Company 2001 ISBN 0 7603 1127 7 OCLC 48527933 Scheina Robert L Latin America s Wars Washington D C Brassey s 2003 ISBN 1 57488 452 2 OCLC 49942250 Sondhaus Lawrence Naval Warfare 1815 1914 London and New York Routledge 2001 ISBN 0 415 21478 5 OCLC 44039349 Smallman Shawn C Fear amp Memory in the Brazilian Army and Society 1889 1954 Chapel Hill University of North Carolina Press 2002 ISBN 0 8078 5359 3 OCLC 250188940 Tupper Admiral Sir Reginald G O Reminiscences London Jarrold amp Sons 1929 OCLC 2342481 ISBN 0 665 77708 6 Whitley M C Battleships of World War Two Annapolis Naval Institute Press 1999 ISBN 1 55750 184 X OCLC 40834665Further reading EditMartins Filho Joao Roberto The Battleship Minas Geraes 1908 in Bruce Taylor editor The World of the Battleship The Lives and Careers of Twenty One Capital Ships of the World s Navies 1880 1990 Barnsley Seaforth Publishing 2018 ISBN 0870219065 Topliss David 1988 The Brazilian Dreadnoughts 1904 1914 Warship International XXV 3 240 289 ISSN 0043 0374 External links Edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Minas Geraes ship 1910 Minas Geraes in Portuguese The Brazilian Battleships Extensive engineering technical details Solid Silver Model of the Brazilian Dreadnought Battleship Minas Geraes of 1910 Archived link A shipbuilder s model of the Brazilian battleship Minas Geraes Royal Museums Greenwich Plans for the Brazilian Battleship Minas Geraes 1906 US National Archives and Records Administration Portal nbsp Battleships Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Brazilian battleship Minas Geraes amp oldid 1155602369, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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