As a class, they were the fastest cruisers in the world when commissioned, and the first in the Brazilian Navy to use steam turbines for propulsion.

On 4 July 1945, Bahia was lost after an accident caused a massive explosion which incapacitated the ship and sunk her within minutes, resulting a large loss of life.

[1] Vickers would later pitch the Bahia design to the Ottoman Navy in 1912, but nothing came of it prior to the outbreak of the First World War.

[2] As a class, Bahia and Rio Grande do Sul were the fastest cruisers in the world when they were commissioned,[1] and the first in the Brazilian Navy to utilize steam turbines for propulsion.

The former coal bunkers, along with some of the space freed up by the decrease in boilers, were converted to hold 588,120 L (155,360 US gal) of oil.

The modernizations were not as extensively as it was in the 1920s; the Brazilian Navy's official history of Bahia reports these but does not specify what modifications the ship underwent in which year.

[2][C] On 4 July 1945, Bahia was acting as a plane guard for transport aircraft flying from the Atlantic to Pacific theaters of war.