Minas Geraes, spelled Minas Gerais in some sources, was a dreadnought 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 its 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 its completion in January 1910, Minas Geraes was featured in Scientific American, which described it 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 Revolt of the Lash. The mutiny, triggered by racism and physical abuse, spread from Minas Geraes to other ships in the Navy, including its sister , the elderly coastal defense ship Deodoro, and the recently commissioned cruiser . Led by João Cândido, 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 conceded to the rebels' demands, including a grant of amnesty, peacefully ending the mutiny.
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1917, Britain's Royal Navy declined Brazil's offer of Minas Geraes for duty with the Grand Fleet because the ship was outdated; it had not been refitted since entering service, so range-finders and a fire-control system had not been added.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 Tenente revolts. São Paulo shelled the rebels' fort, and they surrendered shortly thereafter; Minas Geraes did not fire its 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, the ship was anchored in Salvador as the main defense of the port, as it was too old to play an active part in the war. For the last nine years of its service life, Minas Geraes remained largely inactive, and was towed to Italy for scrapping in March 1954.
Background
Beginning in the late 1880s, Brazil's navy fell into obsolescence, helped along by an 1889 revolution, which deposed Emperor Dom Pedro II, and naval revolts in 1891 and 1893–94.Barman, Citizen Emperor, 403; Topliss, "The Brazilian Dreadnoughts," 240; Livermore, "Battleship Diplomacy," 32; Martins, "Colossos do mares," 75. By the turn of the 20th century, it was lagging behind the Chilean and Argentine navies in quality and total tonnage,Livermore, "Battleship Diplomacy," 32; Martins, "Colossos do mares," 75. despite Brazil having nearly three times the population of Argentina and almost five times the population of Chile.Scheina, "Brazil," 403; Livermore, "Battleship Diplomacy," 32.
At the turn of the twentieth century, soaring demand for coffee and rubber brought prosperity to the Brazilian economy.Scheina, "Brazil," 403. The government of Brazil used some of the extra money from this economic growth to finance a large naval building program in 1904,Scheina, "Brazil," 404. which authorized the construction of a large number of warships, including three battleships.Scheina, Naval History, 80; English, Armed Forces, 108. The Minister of the Navy, Admiral Júlio César de Noronha, signed a contract with Armstrong Whitworth for three battleships on 23 July 1906.Topliss, "The Brazilian Dreadnoughts," 240–245. While the first designs for these ships were derived from the Norwegian coastal defense ship Norge and the British (originally Chilean) , the contracted ships were to follow Armstrong Whitworth's Design 439 (Design 188 in Vickers' files). They would displace 11,800 long tons (12,000 tonnes), have a speed of , and be protected by belt armor of and deck armor of . Each ship would be armed with twelve guns mounted in six twin turrets. These turrets would be mounted in a hexagonal configuration, similar to the later German s.Topliss, "The Brazilian Dreadnoughts," 244–246.
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). The new dreadnought concept, which premiered in December 1906 upon the completion of the namesake ship in December 1906, rendered the Brazilian ships obsolete.Topliss, "The Brazilian Dreadnoughts," 246. The money authorized for naval expansion was redirected by new Minister of the Navy, Rear Admiral Alexandrino Faria de Alencar, to building two dreadnoughts, with plans for a third dreadnought after the first was completed, two scout cruisers (which became the ), ten destroyers (the ), and three submarines (the ).Scheina, Naval History, 81; Journal of the American Society of Naval Engineers, "Brazil," 883. The three battleships on which construction had just begun were demolished beginning on 7 January 1907, and the design of the new dreadnoughts was approved by the Brazilians on 20 February 1907.
Even though the greater cost of these ships meant that only two ships could begin immediately, plans went ahead.Whitley, Battleships, 24. Minas Geraes, the lead ship, was laid down by Armstrong on 17 April 1907, while São Paulo followed thirteen days later at Vickers.Scheina, "Brazil," 404; Scheina, Naval History, 321; Topliss, "The Brazilian Dreadnoughts," 249. The news shocked Brazil's neighbors, especially Argentina, whose Minister of Foreign Affairs remarked that either Minas Geraes or São Paulo could destroy the entire Argentine and Chilean fleets.Martins, "Colossos do mares," 76. In addition, Brazil's order meant that they had laid down a dreadnought before many of the other major maritime powers, such as Germany, France or Russia, and the two ships made Brazil just the third country to have dreadnoughts under construction, behind the United Kingdom and the United States.Scheina, "Brazil," 403; Whitley, Battleships, 13. In particular, the United States now actively attempted to court Brazil as an ally; caught up in the spirit, U.S. naval journals began using terms like "Pan Americanism" and "Hemispheric Cooperation". Newspapers and journals around the world, particularly in Britain and Germany, speculated that Brazil was acting as a proxy for a naval power which would take possession of the two dreadnoughts soon after completion, as they did not believe that a previously insignificant geopolitical power would contract for such powerful armament.Scheina, "Brazil," 404; Martins, "Colossos do mares," 77.
Early career
Minas Geraes was christened by Senhora Regis de Oliveira, the wife of the Brazilian minister to Great Britain,"Launch Greatest Warships," New York Times, 11 September 1908, 5. and launched at Newcastle-on-Tyne on 10 September 1908. During fitting-out, it was moved to Vickers' Walker Yard, and thousands turned out to see the incomplete ship squeeze barely underneath and through overhead and swing bridges."New Brazilian Battleship," Times (London), 17 August 1909, 10b. 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 its gunnery trials at Armstrong's request, and with the agreement of the Brazilian government.Tupper, Reminiscences, 185. Although the idea of having superfiring turrets was not new—the American s 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.
Minas Geraes left the Tyne on 5 February 1910 and traveled to Plymouth before beginning a voyage to the United States on 8 February."Naval and Military Intelligence," The Times, 7 February 1910, 4f; "Naval and Military Intelligence," The Times, 9 February 1910, 8c. When the ship reached Norfolk, Virginia, it escorted the American armored cruiser , 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.Martins, "Colossos do mares," 76; "Minas Geraes Fogbound," The New York Times, 3 March 1910, 13; Whitley, Battleships, 27–28. The two ships set sail on 17 March 1910 and reached Rio de Janeiro one month later,Whitley, Battleships, 27–28. 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,Smallman, Fear & Memory, 28 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.Smallman, Fear & Memory, 28; Scheina, Latin America's Wars, 74.
Revolt of the Lash
The initial spark was provided on 16 November 1910 when Afro-Brazilian sailor Marcelino Rodrigues Menezes was brutally flogged 250 times for insubordination. The sailor's back was later described by José Carlos de Carvalho, a retired navy captain assigned to be the Brazilian government's representative to the mutineers, as "a mullet sliced open for salting."Morgan, "The Revolt of the Lash," 41. Many Afro-Brazilian sailors were sons of former slaves, or were former slaves freed under the Lei Áurea (abolition) but forced to enter the navy. They had been planning a revolt for some time, and Menezes became the catalyst. The revolt began aboard Minas Geraes at around 10 pm on 22 November; the ship's commander and several loyal crewmen were murdered in the process. Soon after, São Paulo, the new cruiser Bahia, the coast-defense ship , the minelayer , the training ship , and the torpedo boats and all revolted with relatively little violence. The first four ships represented the newest and strongest ships in the navy; Minas Geraes, São Paulo, and Bahia had been completed and commissioned only months before. Deodoro was twelve years old and had recently undergone a refit. The crews of the smaller warships made up only two percent of the mutineers, and some moved to the largest ships after the revolt began.Love, Revolt, 20, 28–31, 35–36; Morgan, "Revolt of the Lash," 32–38.
The ships were well-supplied with foodstuffs, ammunition, and coal, and the only demand of mutineers—led by João Cândido—was the abolition of what they called slavery: they objected to low pay, long hours, inadequate training, and punishments including bolo (being struck on the hand with a ferrule) and the use of whips or lashes (chibata), which eventually became a symbol of the revolt. By the 23rd, the National Congress had begun discussing the possibility of a general amnesty for the sailors. Senator Ruy Barbosa, long an opponent of slavery, lent a large amount of support, and the measure unanimously passed the Federal Senate on 24 November. The measure was then sent to the Chamber of Deputies.Morgan, "The Revolt of the Lash," 40–42.