The Cabral-class ironclads were a pair of iron-hulled, armored corvettes originally ordered by Paraguay in 1864, but were sold to Brazil when Paraguay defaulted on the payments.

Configured as central-battery ironclads, they served during the 1864–1870 Paraguayan War between Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay against Paraguay.

The Cabral class had a pair of steam engines, each driving one propeller.

The engines produced a total of 750 indicated horsepower (560 kW) and gave the ships a maximum speed of 10.5 knots (19.4 km/h; 12.1 mph).

The ships had a complete waterline belt of wrought iron that ranged in thickness from 114 millimeters (4.5 in) amidships to 76 millimeters (3.0 in) at the ends of the ship.