Brazilian Battleship Minas Geraes

Brazilian Battleship Minas Geraes

Minas Geraes, spelled Minas Gerais in some sources, was a (English: 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 her class, making the country the third to have a dreadnought under construction and igniting a naval arms race between Brazil, Argentina, and Chile.

Two months after her completion in January 1910, Minas Geraes was featured in Scientific American, which described her as "the last word in heavy battleship design and the ... most powerfully armed warship afloat". In November 1910, Minas Geraes was the focal point of the Revolta da Chibata (English: Revolt of the Whip). The mutiny spread from Minas Geraes to other ships in the Navy, including her sister São Paulo, the elderly coastal defense ship Deodoro, and the recently commissioned cruiser Bahia. Led by the "Black Admiral" 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 gave in and the rebels disbanded.

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1917, Britain's Royal Navy declined Brazil's offer of Minas Geraes for duty with the Grand Fleet because the ship was outdated; she had not been refitted since entering service, so range-finders and a fire-control system had not been added.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 revoltas tenentistas (English: Tenente revolts). São Paulo shelled the rebels' fort, and they surrendered shortly thereafter; Minas Geraes did not fire her 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, she was anchored in Salvador as the main defense of the port, as she was too old to play an active part in the war. For the last nine years of her service life, Minas Geraes remained largely inactive, and was towed to Italy for scrapping in March 1954.