Named Minas Geraes and São Paulo, these "dreadnought" warships were intended to be Brazil's first step towards becoming an international power, and they consequently initiated a South American naval arms race.

Two dreadnoughts were instead ordered from the United Kingdom, making Brazil the third country to have ships of this type under construction, before traditional powers like Germany, France, or Russia.

Soon after their delivery in 1910, both Minas Geraes and São Paulo were embroiled in the Revolt of the Lash (Revolta da Chibata), in which the crews of four Brazilian ships demanded the abolition of corporal punishment in the navy.

Minas Geraes was modernized in the 1930s, but both battleships were too old to participate actively in the Second World War, and instead were employed as harbor defense ships in Salvador and Recife.

[10] A large naval acquisition program was drawn up and passed by the National Congress of Brazil in October 1904 in accordance with their belief that a powerful navy would be crucial to the achievement of this goal, but it was two years before any ships were ordered.

[10] The latter originally prevailed with a bill authorizing the construction of three small battleships, three armored cruisers, six destroyers, twelve torpedo boats, three submarines, and two river monitors.

[10][11] Though the Brazilian government later eliminated the armored cruisers for monetary reasons, the Minister of the Navy, Admiral Júlio César de Noronha, signed a contract with Armstrong Whitworth for three battleships on 23 July 1906.

[14] Alarmed, the American ambassador to Brazil sent a cablegram to his Department of State in September 1906, warning them of the destabilization that would occur if the situation devolved into a full naval arms race.

Two of these ships were laid down by Armstrong at Elswick in Newcastle upon Tyne (Minas Geraes and Rio de Janeiro), while the other was subcontracted out to Vickers in Barrow (São Paulo).

[17] A transition to a few large warships was finalized with the selection of Rear Admiral Alexandrino Faria de Alencar for the powerful post of minister of the navy.

[17] An entirely new design incorporating the latest dreadnought technology was drawn up by J.R. Perrett, the head of Elswick Ordnance Company, and approved by the Brazilian government on 20 February 1907.

Construction of the partial hull needed to launch Minas Geraes was delayed by a four-month strike to 10 September 1908, and São Paulo followed on 19 April 1909.

[31][32] The third dreadnought, which would have been named Rio de Janeiro and was provided for in the original contract, was laid down on 16 March, but as the ship had already been eclipsed by new naval technology (chiefly the advent of super-dreadnoughts, beginning with the British HMS Orion), the Brazilian government canceled it on 7 May and asked Armstrong to prepare a new design.

[9][39][G] The order for the dreadnoughts caused an immediate stir in the United States and Europe; in the words of the British Navy League Annual, they "astonished the naval world".

"[43] The British House of Commons debated purchasing the ships in March 1908 to bolster the Royal Navy while simultaneously ensuring they would not be sold to a foreign rival.

[17] The topic arose again in July and September, when Arthur Lee expressed his discomfort at the possible final dispositions of the Brazilian ships, as any sale had the potential to disrupt their "Two-Power Standard".

[48] With three dreadnoughts planned (including the upcoming Rio de Janeiro), a Spanish naval journal stated "it was only natural that rumors [would begin] to circulate supporting the argument that Brazil acted as an intermediary for some great power which would acquire them before they terminate their construction.

[56] The New York Times remarked: The rumor is that the three warships ... ordered [in Britain] two years ago will be launched from English shores only to fly the German flag.

It is asserted that these ships, which are named the Sao Paulo, the Minas Geras [sic] and the Rio de Janeiro, and all of which will be completed by next fall, will be conveyed to the German government on the payment of $30,000,000.It may be recalled that when orders were placed for the ships ... there was much speculation as to the destiny of the vessels, as no naval expert could understand how a second-rate power like Brazil needed such formidable engines of war which would represent absolutely the latest stages of naval construction and armament.

[H] Then it was semi-officially stated that the ships would never leave the ways except to fly the British flag, but the money for such a purpose could only be raised by a loan or the Admiralty getting the sum from the sinking fund—contingencies which would naturally become public property long before they could be carried out.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Manuel Augusto Montes de Oca, remarked that either Minas Geraes or São Paulo could destroy the entire Argentine and Chilean fleets.

[61][62] The ship was assigned to escort the American armored cruiser North Carolina, carrying the body of the former Brazilian ambassador to the United States Joaquim Nabuco, to Rio de Janeiro.

[65] Soon after São Paulo's arrival, a major rebellion known as the Revolt of the Lash, or Revolta da Chibata, broke out on four of the newest ships in the Brazilian Navy.

They objected to low pay, long hours, inadequate training for incompetent sailors, and punishments including bôlo (being struck on the hand with a ferrule) and the use of whips or lashes (chibata), which eventually became a symbol of the revolt.

[75] Humiliated by the revolt, naval officers and the president of Brazil were staunchly opposed to amnesty, so they quickly began planning to assault the rebel ships.

Later research and interviews indicate that Minas Geraes' guns were fully operational, and while São Paulo's could not be turned after salt water contaminated the hydraulic system, British engineers still on board the ship after the voyage from the United Kingdom were working on the problem.

[81][82] When Brazil entered the First World War in 1917, they were offered to the United Kingdom for service in the Grand Fleet, but the British declined due to the condition the ships were in.

After São Paulo brought them home, the ship traveled to Portugal to take the bodies of the formerly-exiled Emperor Pedro II and his wife, Teresa Cristina, back to Brazil.

[82][85][J] In July 1922, both battleships helped to quash the first of the Tenente revolts (Revolução Tenentista), in which the garrison of Rio de Janeiro's Fort Copacabana rebelled and began bombarding the city.