Minas Geraes class
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|---|---|
 Crack drawing (armor thickness in inches) |
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| Class details | |
| Ship type | Large-line ship |
| units | 2 |
| Sister ships | |
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Minas Geraes São Paulo |
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| Technical specifications | |
| Displacement: | Standard: 19,508 t Maximum: 21,717 t |
| Length: | between the perpendiculars: 152.4 m over all: 165.5 m |
| Width: | 25.29 m |
| Draft: | 7.4 m |
| Speed: | 21 kn |
| Crew: | 1010 men |
| Drive: |
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| Bunker amount: | 2400 t coal maximum oil plus 370 t oil maximum |
| Range: | 8000 nautical miles at 10 knots |
| Armament: | |
| Armor: |
(For details see text) |
The Minas Geraes class (also often erroneously Minas Gerais class ) was a class of Brazilian ships of the line . They were the only capital ships ( dreadnoughts ) of the Brazilian Navy and the first ships of this type in South America. Its construction caused an arms race between the great South American navies of Argentina , Brazil and Chile , which was ended by the First World War .
When it was launched in September 1908, the eponymous "Minas Geraes" was the largest battleship in the world. The ship class is also noteworthy because the Brazilian Navy started building dreadnoughts before established naval powers such as France, Russia, Italy or Spain did so.
Design history
Initial planning began in 1903, and the ships were approved by the Brazilian Congress in October 1904. The first draft provided for coastal armor-like ships similar to the Norwegian Norge class . The design was changed to that of a unit ship of the line and then to that of a ship with a displacement of 13,000 tons armed with 12 25 cm guns . Three of these were ordered from Armstrong's UK shipyard in Elswick . Shortly after construction began, the completion of the HMS Dreadnought devalued the design and construction was interrupted. A new contract for two ships ( Minas Geraes , São Paulo ) of the dreadnought type was signed in February 1907. Armstrong commissioned the Vickers shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness for São Paolo as a subcontractor. The third ship, the Rio de Janeiro , was to be built according to a different design. Before it was completed, however, it was sold to Turkey as Sultan Osman I and confiscated by Great Britain when the First World War broke out, where it took part in the war as HMS Agincourt .
Technical specifications
At 19,200 ts, the ships were slightly larger than the HMS Dreadnought . They carried a main armament of 12 30.5-cm guns in twin towers , two of which were positioned elevated for the time in front and aft (rear). The remaining two towers were offset to the side of the chimneys, so that there was broadside fire from 10 30.5 cm guns. The middle artillery consisted of 22 12 cm guns, 14 in casemates and 8 in and on the ends of the superstructures. A total of 8 47-mm guns stood on the raised and side towers. The ships had no torpedo tubes, but carried torpedoes for the dinghies.
The central citadel had waterline armor 229 mm thick, which extended in length from the second to the penultimate turret and reached up to the upper deck. The armored belt thus also protected the 12 cm guns set up in casemates. In front of and behind the citadel the belt continued at a lower height, first thinned to 152 mm and at the extreme ends of the ship to 102 mm. A 102 mm transverse bulkhead closed off the citadel aft. At the front, the citadel had a 229 mm transverse bulkhead in the upper half at the level of the second gun turret, the lower part of the front transverse bulkhead was located further forward and was 76 mm thick. Above the casemates, that is, above the citadel, the upper deck was armored with 32 mm. The main armored deck was 51 mm thick.
The towers of the heavy artillery were armored on the front with 229 mm, on the sides and rear with 203 mm and on the ceiling with 51 to 76 mm, as were the barbeds above the armored deck. The front command tower had 203 to 305 mm thick armor, the aft one 76 to 229 mm thick armor. The protection against underwater hits was remarkable: it consisted of lateral torpedo bulkheads in the area of the central citadel, which were connected to the inner floor of the ship via a so-called "mine floor", so that the underwater protection formed a box that extended to the main armored deck.
It was driven by two triple expansion machines, which were fed by 18 coal-fired Babcock & Wilcox boilers and operated on two shafts. The drive developed an output of 23,500 hp for 21 kn .
History and whereabouts
In 1910 a mutiny by African-Brazilian sailors began on board the "Minas Geraes", who fought against racist wage differences between (white) officers and (black) sailors, as well as against the use of the "Chibata" whip against the sailors. The mutiny culminated in street fighting that lasted several days until the mutineers were initially able to enforce their demands. (-> Revolta da Chibata ).
The Brazilian government offered the Allies the two ships, which were already considered obsolete at this point. Both ships were completely overhauled in New York, the São Paolo in preparation for a mission with the British Grand Fleet in the First World War , which did not take place. The 47 mm guns were removed and the fire control systems modernized. The center five 12 cm casemate guns on each side have also been removed.
Due to an influenza outbreak , the Minas Geraes had to stop in Gibraltar. Only on November 10, 1918, the day before the end of the war, did the ship start moving again.
In a further renovation from 1934 to 1937, the Minas Geraes received oil-fired boilers and anti-aircraft armament. The São Paulo should also be rebuilt, but this was refrained from due to the poor condition of the ship.
Both ships were involved in internal disputes and mutinies between the world wars. After Brazil entered the war in 1942, the ships were intended for coastal defense because they were completely out of date. After the war, they were sold for scrapping. The Minas Geraes was towed to Genoa in 1954. The São Paulo was to be towed to Great Britain after 1951 and was lost in the Azores on November 4, 1951 when the supply line was cut in a storm.
literature
- Siegfried Breyer: Battleships and battle cruisers 1905-1970 . JF Lehmanns Verlagsgesellschaft mbH Munich 1970, ISBN 3-88199-474-2 .
- Mike J. Whitley: Battleships of World War Two . Cassel & Co, London 2001, ISBN 0-304-35957-2 .
- Jane's Battleships of the 20th Century . Harper Collins Publishers, London 1996, ISBN 0-004-70997-7 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Rhön-Zeitung of September 19, 1908 (digitized, p. 975, middle column at the top)
- ↑ Warships from 1900 to today . Buch und Zeit Verlagsgesellschaft mbh, Cologne 1979, p. 11 .