The Cabral-class ironclads were a pair of iron-hulled, armored corvettes originally ordered by Paraguay in 1864, but were sold to Brazil when Paraguay defaulted on the payments. Configured as central-battery ironclads, they served during the 1864–1870 Paraguayan War between Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay against Paraguay.
Design and description The ships were long, had a beam of and drafts of . They displaced . The Cabral class had a pair of steam engines, each driving one propeller. The engines produced a total of and gave the ships a maximum speed of . Their crew consisted of 125 officers and enlisted men.Lyon, p. 406
Cabral was armed with two 70-pounder Whitworth rifled muzzle-loading guns and two smoothbore 68-pounder guns, while Colombo had four 120-pounder Whitworth guns. The ships had a complete waterline belt of wrought iron that ranged in thickness from amidships to at the ends of the ship.
Ships Paraguayan nameBrazilian nameNamesake Builder Laid down Launched CompletedFatePedro Álvares CabralJ. and G. Rennie, Millwall, London1866Stricken, 1885Christopher Columbus
See also List of ironclads List of historical ships of the Brazilian Navy
Footnotes
References