[1] The ship had a pair of horizontal trunk steam engines, each driving one propeller shaft.

The engines produced a total of 950 indicated horsepower (710 kW) and gave Silvado a maximum speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).

[1] Silvado, named after Captain Americo Brasilio Silvado, who was killed when his ship, the ironclad Rio de Janeiro, struck a mine and sank, was originally ordered by Paraguay from the French shipbuilding firm of Arman Brothers, and was laid down in 1864 with the name of Nemesis at their Bordeaux shipyard.

She was purchased by Brazil the following year, after the start of the war when Paraguay was cut off from the outside world and could no longer make payments.

[3] She sailed to Brazil under the command of Manoel Antônio Vital de Oliveira later that year.