Minas Geraes Class Battleship - Bidding and Construction

Bidding and Construction

Design 439 was modified before these ships were laid down, increasing the displacement to 14,334 long tons (14,564 t) and making them slightly longer and wider. 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). However, the new dreadnought concept, which was showcased upon the completion of the namesake ship in December 1906, rendered the Brazilian ships obsolete. A transition to a few large warships was finalized with the selection of Rear Admiral Alexandrino Faria de Alencar for the powerful post of minister of the navy. The money authorized for naval expansion was redirected by de Alencar 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 three battleships on which construction had just begun were demolished beginning on 7 January 1907.

An entirely new design incorporating the latest dreadnought technology was drawn up by J.R. Perret, the head of Elswick Ordnance Company, and approved by the Brazilian government on 20 February 1907. Argentina and Chile immediately annulled the 1902 treaty that had ended their naval arms race, and both planned to expand their own navies, though Chile was delayed by a financial depression in 1907 and a major earthquake the next year.

Minas Geraes, the lead ship, was laid down by Armstrong on 17 April 1907, while her sister ship São Paulo followed thirteen days later at Vickers. Construction of the partial hull needed to launch Minas Geraes was delayed by a four-month strike to 10 September 1908, and São Paulo followed on 19 April 1909. Both were christened in front of large crowds by the wife of Francisco Régis de Oliveira, the Brazilian ambassador to the United Kingdom. After multiple trials of the speed, endurance, efficiency, and weaponry of the ship, Minas Geraes was completed and handed over to Brazil on 5 January 1910. São Paulo followed in July, after her own trials. The third dreadnought, which would have been named Rio de Janeiro and was provided for in the original contract, was laid down on 16 March, but as the ship had already been eclipsed by new naval technology (chiefly the advent of super-dreadnoughts, beginning with the British Orion), the Brazilian government canceled her on 7 May and asked Armstrong to prepare a new design.

At this time, the dreadnought design had not been fully validated, despite the success of the British namesake; for example, there were still concerns that the Minas Geraes class' superfiring turret arrangement—which had not been utilized on the original Dreadnought, but was also being installed on the American South Carolina class—would cause blast to hurt the crew in the lower turret. Any immediate concerns, however, were mitigated during the firing tests when no ill effects were observed, though the Times (London) reported that there were still concerns registered during São Paulo's gun trials in June 1910.