Rio Grande do Sul sometime after its mid-1920s modernization, as indicated by the third funnel.[1]
History
Brazil
NameRio Grande Do Sul
NamesakeThe Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul
BuilderArmstrong Whitworth[1]
Yard number810[2]
Laid down30 August 1907
Launched20 April 1909
Commissioned14 May 1910
Decommissioned1948
FateScrapped
General characteristics
Class and typeBahia-class cruiser
Displacement3,100 tonnes (3,050 long tons; 3,420 short tons)[1][3]
Length
  • 122.38 m (401.5 ft) oa
  • 115.82 m (380.0 ft) pp[3]
Beam11.89–11.91 m (39.0–39.1 ft)[3]
Draft
  • 3.81 m (12.5 ft) forward[3]
  • 4.75 m (15.6 ft) amidships[3]
  • 4.42 m (14.5 ft) aft[3]
Propulsion
Speed
  • 27.016 knots (50.034 km/h; 31.089 mph) trial[1]
  • 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph) at full load[3]
Endurance
  • 1,400 nautical miles (2,600 km; 1,600 mi) at 23.5 knots (43.5 km/h; 27.0 mph)[4]
  • 3,500 nautical miles (6,500 km; 4,000 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)[4]
Complement320[4] to 357[3]
Armament
Armor
NotesSpecifications given are prior to the 1925–26 modernization.

Rio Grande do Sul was a Bahia-class cruiser built for the Brazilian Navy in 1909–10.

Construction and commissioning

See also: South American dreadnought race

Rio Grande do Sul was part of a large 1904 naval building program by Brazil.[5][6] Also planned as part of this were the two Minas Geraes-class dreadnoughts, ten Pará-class destroyers, three submarines and a submarine tender.[6][7] With a design that borrowed heavily from the British Adventure-class scout cruisers,[1] Rio Grande do Sul's keel was laid in 1907 in Armstrong Whitworth's Elswick, Newcastle upon Tyne yard.[1] Construction took about a year and a half, and she was launched on 20 April 1909 with Madame A. M. Gomez Ferraz being the sponsor on behalf of Her Excellency Senhora Dr. Carlos Barbosa.[8] As a class, Bahia and Rio Grande do Sul were the fastest cruisers in the world when they were commissioned,[1] and the first in the Brazilian Navy to utilize steam turbines for propulsion.[3]

Gallery

Endnotes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Scheina, "Brazil," 405.
  2. ^ "Rio Grande do Sul 1910".
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Rio Grande do Sul I," Serviço de Documentação da Marinha – Histórico de Navios.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Moore ed., Janes Fighting Ships, 300.
  5. ^ "Cruzador Bahia – C 12/C 2 Archived 26 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine" (in Portuguese), Navios de Guerra Brasileiros. Retrieved 8 November 2012.
  6. ^ a b Scheina, "Brazil," 403.
  7. ^ Scheina, Latin America's Wars, 37.
  8. ^ The Engineer. Vol. 107. 1909. p. 420.

References

Categories