Bahia was the lead ship of her class of cruisers built for Brazil by Armstrong Whitworth in the United Kingdom. Six months after her 21 May 1910 commissioning, crewmen aboard the ship mutinied during the [Revolta da Chibata] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) (Revolt of the Whip) and killed one of the ship's officers. When Brazil entered the First World War, Bahia and her sister ship Rio Grande do Sul were assigned to the [Divisão Naval em Operações de Guerra] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) (Naval Division in War Operations), the Brazilian Navy's main contribution in that conflict. Based out of Sierra Leone and Dakar, the squadron escorted convoys through an area believed to be heavily patrolled by U-boats. Between the wars, Bahia underwent a major overhaul and modernization and was mobilized against multiple rebellions. 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 358 total days of sailing. On 4 July 1945 she was acting as a plane guard for transport aircraft flying from the Atlantic to Pacific theaters of war. While Bahia's gunners were firing at a kite for anti-aircraft practice, 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 sunk her within minutes. Only a small portion of the crew survived the blast, and even fewer were still living when their rafts were discovered days later. Conspiracy theories disputing this story and involving rogue German U-boats persist to this day. (more...)
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