Brazilian Battleship Minas Geraes - Second World War and Later Career

Second World War and Later Career

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.

Apart from three destroyers launched in 1940 and four submarines from the inter-war years, Brazil's warships were old and mostly obsolete pre-First World War vessels. The mainstays of the fleet, Minas Geraes, São Paulo, Bahia, and Rio Grande do Sul, were all over thirty years old. Although Minas Geraes had been further refitted from 1939 to 1943, she 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.

Minas Geraes was inactive for much of the rest of her career. Decommissioned on 16 May 1952, the battleship was used as a stationary headquarters for the Commander-in-Chief of the Brazilian Navy until 17 December of that year. She was removed from the naval register on 31 December, 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; the old dreadnought, which had been in service for more than forty years, was broken up for scrap later that year.