Early Career
Minas Geraes was christened by Senhora Regis de Oliveira, the wife of the Brazilian minister to Great Britain, and launched at Newcastle-on-Tyne on 10 September 1908. During fitting-out, she was moved to Vickers' Walker Yard, and thousands turned out to see the incomplete ship squeeze barely underneath and through overhead and swing bridges. 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. The British Royal Navy carried out her gunnery trials at the request of Armstrong's and with the agreement of the Brazilian government. 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.
The launch of Minas Geraes on 10 September 1908 was accompanied by booklets to mark the spectacle for those who attended. Photographs courtesy of Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums.Minas Geraes left the Tyne on 5 February 1910 and traveled to Plymouth before beginning a voyage to the United States on 8 February. When she reached Norfolk, Virginia, she 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. The two ships set sail on 17 March 1910 and reached Rio de Janeiro one month later, where Minas Geraes was commissioned into the Brazilian Navy on 18 April.
Soon after Minas Geraes' arrival in Brazil, the country's prosperity began to wane, and a severe depression hit the Brazilian economy. The economic hardship, the racism prevalent in all branches of the Brazilian armed forces, 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.
Read more about this topic: Brazilian Battleship Minas Geraes
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