The Battleship Book. Robert M. Farley

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torpedo boats, but attacking the rebels would have run the risk of destroying the most valuable property owned by the Brazilian state.

      Four days into the revolt, the government acceded to most of the rebel demands, and issued a blanket amnesty. Shortly thereafter, however, the government went back on its word, expelling most of the rebel leaders from the navy and imprisoning them in brutal conditions. (In 2008, the Brazilian legislature would reaffirm the 1910 amnesty, in what labor activists saw as a victory for the history of worker’s rights.)

Minas Gerais class battleships. Journal of the United States Artillery, 1910.

      Minas Gerais class battleships. Journal of the United States Artillery, 1910.

      In the wake of the revolt, the Brazilian government drastically reduced the readiness of the fleet, decreasing exercises and removing the firing pins from the main guns of São Paulo and Minas Gerais. Nevertheless, Brazil continued to pursue a relatively activist foreign policy, joining World War I on the Allied side. Upon Brazil’s declaration of war in 1917, it was thought sensible to deploy Minas Gerais and São Paulo with the Grand Fleet. Sadly, the two ships were in such poor condition that they had to be refit in order to be made battleworthy. The refits lasted nearly two years, extending well after the end of the war. The rest of the Brazilian Navy made a genuine contribution to the war effort by patrolling for U-boats in the South Atlantic.

      The rest of São Paulo’s career was uneventful. In 1922 she helped suppress a soldiers’ revolt in Rio de Janeiro, and in 1924 her crew mutinied again. This time, Minas Gerais did not go along, and São Paulo fired upon both her sister and some shore installations before surrendering.

      In the 1930s the Brazilian Navy decided to modernize both of the ships. Between 1931 and 1935 Minas Gerais was extensively reconstructed. São Paulo, however, was in such bad shape that modernization was pointless. She served her last twenty years as a stationary defense ship, until being sold for scrap in 1951. In a storm off the Azores, São Paulo broke her tow line and disappeared. No evidence of the wreck, or of the eight man caretaker crew, was ever found.

      Author’s Note

      The desires of the Southern Cone navies to acquire the most powerful dreadnoughts in the world, rather than ships that would have proven more manageable on their budgets, stands in contrast to the practice of most of the other naval powers. That these ships saw most of their action in revolts (also true of the Chilean Almirante Latorre) was hardly accidental.

Jose Candido. Gazeta de Noticias, December 31, 1912.

      Jose Candido. Gazeta de Noticias, December 31, 1912.

      The prospect of Minas Gerais and São Paulo serving in the Grand Fleet is surely interesting, perhaps more for the different fleet and training procedures than for the material contribution they might have made. Of course, during the interwar period the Royal Navy would suffer from its own mutiny problem.

      Related Entries:

      Inspired by…HMS Dreadnought

      Contemporary of… Rivadavia

      Meant to fight… Almirante Latorre

      USS Michigan

      Laid Down: 1905

      Launched: 1906

      Completed: May, 1908

      Displacement: 16,000 tons

      Main Armament: eight 12” guns (four twin turrets)

      Secondary Armament: twenty-two 3” guns (individual mounts)

      Speed: 18.5 knots

      Major Actions: None

      Treaty: Pre-Washington Naval Treaty

      Fate: Scrapped, 1924

      Dreadnought was the first modern battleship completed, but not the first designed. That honor went to a pair of American battleships, South Carolina and Michigan. Congress limited the size of Michigan to more-or-less the same as that of the Connecticut class pre-dreadnought battleships, 2,500 tons smaller than Dreadnought. Onto that small frame the architects managed to pack eight 12” guns in four twin turrets. Larger only than the España class dreadnoughts, Michigan minimally, if efficiently, fulfilled the requirements of the dreadnought form.

Collapsed cage mast, January 28, 1918. US Naval Historical Center.

      Collapsed cage mast, January 28, 1918. US Naval Historical Center.

      The most advanced element of the design was turret distribution. While most other navies played with wing turrents (gun turrets set off the center line, and thus incapable of firing a broadside in either direction), Michigan was built with superfiring turrets, where the second turret on each side of the ship was elevated above the first. This allowed all of the guns to fire in a broadside in either direction. The Royal Navy and others believed that the blast from the lower gun would throw off the aim of the upper, but tests on the American ships were very successful. This arrangement was maintained in the rest of the US battleship fleet, and eventually spread to the rest of the world’s navies.

      Unfortunately, because of her small size Michigan lacked the machinery to make more than 18 knots. Dreadnought, on the other hand, could make 21 knots. The next class of American battleships (and all that followed them) could also make 21 knots, which had the effect of rendering South Carolina and Michigan obsolete shortly after their completion. Unable to keep up with the main US battle squadron, Michigan generally operated with squadrons of pre-dreadnoughts.

USS Michigan underway, 1918. Enrique Muller, War Department photo.

      USS Michigan underway, 1918. Enrique Muller, War Department photo.

      Michigan and South Carolina were also notable for being the first US battleships constructed with cage masts. Earlier US ships had been built with more conventional masts, although by 1910 most had been refitted with cage masts. Cage masts distinguished American ships from those of any other navy in the world. They were extremely fire resistant (shells simply passed through them), but tended to restrict angles of fire for anti-aircraft guns, although this was not an important consideration in 1908. Every battleship up until West Virginia (completed in 1922) carried cage masts. The experience of Michigan also, indirectly, helped lead to the end of the cage mast era. In 1918, gale force winds bent the forward mast of Michigan all the way down to the deck, killing six men and injuring twice as many. US battleships modernized during the interwar period lost their cage masts, although four of the ships at Pearl Harbor (California, Tennessee, Maryland, and West Virginia) still had theirs on the day of the attack. Two ships (Maryland and Colorado) would retain their cage masts all the way until their disposal dates in 1959.

      In any case, Michigan never saw combat outside of the action off Vera Cruz in 1914, when Woodrow Wilson unleashed most of the firepower of the US Navy against a small Mexican city. In World War I, Michigan conducted convoy escort and training ops. Michigan was taken out of service shortly after World War I, and was scrapped under the requirements of the 1922 Washington Naval

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