Brazilian battleship São Paulo

The Brazilian battleship "São Paulo" (named after the City of São Paulo, Portuguese for "St. Paul") was built between 1907-1909, and commissioned in July 1910. Built by Vickers in Barrow-in-Furness, United Kingdom, it was an early dreadnought. It carried a main armament of twelve convert|12|in|mm|0|sing=on main guns mounted two per turret, and could fire from all sides.

The "São Paulo" was a member of the two-ship "Minas Gerais" class, which were powered by reciprocating engines with coal fired boilers. Both of these vessels were built in an attempt to enhance the Brazilian naval power in South America. Their completion sparked a mini South American naval race, however this quickly ended upon the outbreak of World War I.

When Brazil declared war on Germany in 1917, the "São Paulo" was sent to the US for a major refit prior to joining the Grand Fleet in Great Britain. However, the refit was not completed until 1920, by which time World War I had ended, therefore the ship never fired its guns in anger. It was decommissioned in 1946, and its hull was sold to British breakers in 1951. While being towed across the Atlantic, a heavy gale convert|150|nmi|km from the Azores caused the tow ropes to snap, and the ship has never been sighted again. In 1954 her sister ship was successfully towed to Italy and scrapped.

References

*Conway's "All the World's Fighting Ships, 1906-1921"