| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Empire of Brazil | |
| Name | Colombo |
| Namesake | Christopher Columbus |
| Launched | 1865 |
| Commissioned | 4 July 1866 |
| Decommissioned | 4 February 1875 |
| Fate | Scrapped |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Cabral-class ironclad |
| Displacement | 1,069 metric tons (1,052 long tons) |
| Length | 48.76 m (160 ft 0 in) |
| Beam | 10.6 m (34 ft 9 in) |
| Draft | 3.23 m (10.6 ft) |
| Installed power | 750 ihp (560 kW) |
| Propulsion | 2 shafts, 2 steam engines |
| Speed | 10.5 knots (19.4 km/h; 12.1 mph) |
| Complement | 125 officers and men |
| Armament | 8 × rifled 70 and 68-pounder guns |
| Armor | |
The Brazilian ironclad Colombo was a Cabral-class armored corvette-type ironclad operated by the Imperial Brazilian Navy between 1866 and 1875. The vessel was built in the shipyard in Greenwich, England, by the British company J. and G. Rennie, along with her sister ship Cabral. It was launched in 1865 being commissioned on 4 July 1866. The battleship was entirely made of iron, displacing 1,069 tons. It had two steam engines that developed up to 750 HP of power, propelling the vessel at about 20 km/h. Its structure comprised a double casemate with eight gunports. The Brazilian navy had great difficulties with this ship, which was hard to navigate and, due to the casemate's model, had an unprotected section, which was vulnerable to diving projectiles.
A few months after its arrival in Brazil, Colombo was sent to the front in the Paraguayan War. The first obstacle faced by the ship was the Fortress of Curupayty, which, together with several other ships of the imperial fleet, it bombed heavily on 2 February 1867. On 15 August, Colombo successfully forced the passage of this fort, a maneuver that lasted about two hours. In July 1868, Colombo participated in the bombardment of the Fortress of Humaitá. On 5 October, Colombo carried out an aggressive reconnaissance of the Angostura Fortress.
In the last years of the war, the ship was no longer in needed and returned to Rio de Janeiro, where it underwent repair works. In 1873, it was assigned to the third naval division, with the mission of patrolling the Brazilian coast between Mossoró, in Rio Grande do Norte, to the limits with French Guiana. The Brazilian navy decommissioned it on 4 February 1875.