The Brazilian Naval League tried to keep the construction alive by financing it through a national donation campaign, but the amount of funds raised was not sufficient to cover the costs.

[1][2] After the commissioning of the battleships Minas Geraes and São Paulo, Brazil began to experience severe economic difficulties caused by the decrease in coffee and rubber exports, in addition to the crisis in its navy due to the Revolt of the Lash, and the European economic recession caused by the Second Balkan War, which prevented the country from contracting new foreign loans.

[3] This prompted the Brazilian government to sell the still-under-construction battleship Rio de Janeiro to the Ottoman Empire in 1913 for £2.75 million.

The Brazilian authorities, aware of this, asked Armstrong and Vickers for projects for the development of a superior battleship named Riachuelo.

Writer Alan Vanterpool demonstrated several projects that were supposedly for Riachuelo, but stated that Brazil had never asked Armstrong-Vickers for plans due to its economic crisis.

[7] However, contemporary newspaper articles (The Times and Engineering) indicated that the country placed the design order on the eve of World War I, and that it also included data on the battleship's specifications.

[11][10] As a last attempt to keep the construction alive, the Brazilian Naval League (current Society of Friends of the Navy), tried to raise donations through a popular campaign called Fundo Riachuelo that reached all regions of Brazil.