Brazilian cruiser Bahia

For other ships with the same name, see Brazilian ship Bahia.

Bahia sometime before its mid-1920s modernization, as indicated by its two funnels[1]
History
Brazil
NameBahia
NamesakeState of Bahia
BuilderArmstrong Whitworth[1][2]
Yard number809[2]
Laid down19 August 1907[1][2]
Launched20 January 1909[2]
Sponsored byMadame Altino Correia
Commissioned21 May 1910[3]
FateSunk by an explosion, 4 July 1945[3][4]
General characteristics (as built)
Class and typeBahia-class cruiser
Displacement3,100 tonnes (3,050 long tons; 3,420 short tons)[1][3]
Length
  • 122.38 m (401.5 ft) oa
  • 115.82 m (380.0 ft) pp[3]
Beam11.89–11.91 m (39.0–39.1 ft)[3]
Draft
  • 3.81 m (12.5 ft) forward[3]
  • 4.75 m (15.6 ft) amidships[3]
  • 4.42 m (14.5 ft) aft[3]
Propulsion
Speed
  • 27.016 knots (50.034 km/h; 31.089 mph) trial[1]
  • 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph) at full load[3]
Endurance
  • 1,400 nautical miles (2,600 km; 1,600 mi) at 23.5 knots (43.5 km/h; 27.0 mph)[5]
  • 3,500 nautical miles (6,500 km; 4,000 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)[5]
Complement320[5] to 357[3]
Armament
Armor

Bahia was the lead ship of a two-vessel class of cruisers built for Brazil by the British company Armstrong Whitworth. Crewmen mutinied in November 1910 aboard Bahia, Deodoro, Minas Geraes, and São Paulo, beginning the four-day Revolta da Chibata (Revolt of the Lash). Brazil's capital city of Rio de Janeiro was held hostage by the possibility of a naval bombardment, leading the government to give in to the rebel demands which included the abolition of flogging in the navy. During the First World War, Bahia and its sister ship Rio Grande do Sul were assigned to the Divisão Naval em Operações de Guerra (Naval Division in War Operations), the Brazilian Navy's main contribution in that conflict. The squadron was based in Sierra Leone and Dakar and escorted convoys through an area believed to be heavily patrolled by U-boats.

Bahia was extensively modernized in the mid-1920s. It received three new Brown–Curtis turbine engines and six new Thornycroft boilers, and it was converted from coal-burning to oil. The refit resulted in a striking aesthetic change, with the exhaust being trunked into three funnels instead of two. The armament was also modified, adding three 20 mm (0.79 in) Madsen autocannons, a 7 mm (0.28 in) Hotchkiss machine gun, and four 533 mm (21.0 in) torpedo tubes. In the 1930s, it served with government forces during multiple revolutions.

In the Second World War, Bahia was once again used as a convoy escort, sailing over 100,000 nautical miles (190,000 km; 120,000 mi) in the span of about a year. On 4 July 1945, it was acting as a plane guard for transport aircraft flying from the Atlantic to Pacific theaters of war. Bahia's gunners were firing at a kite for anti-aircraft practice when one aimed too low and hit depth charges stored near the stern of the ship, resulting in a massive explosion that incapacitated the ship and sank it within minutes. Only a few of the crew survived the blast, and fewer still were alive when their rafts were discovered days later.

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cite error: The named reference Conways was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference Miramar was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Cite error: The named reference BrazilNavy was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Scheina427 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ a b c d e f Moore ed., Janes Fighting Ships, 300.