page_title: Imperial Brazilian Navy
section_title: Expansion and end of the Empire
hierarchical_section_title: Imperial Brazilian Navy / Second Reign, 1831-1889 / Expansion and end of the Empire
caption_attribution_description: English: Title: Aquidaban, Brazilian navy Related Names: Detroit Publishing Co. publisher Date Created/Published: [1893] Medium: 1 negative&#160;: glass&#160;; 8 x 10 in. Part of: Detroit Publishing Company Photograph Collection Reproduction Number: LC-D4-21113 (b&amp;w glass neg.) Call Number: LC-D4-21113 &lt;P&amp;P&gt; [P&amp;P] Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA Notes: Detroit Publishing Co. no. 021113. Gift; State Historical Society of Colorado; 1949. Português: O Encouraçado Aquidabã foi uma das principais embarcações da Armada Imperial Brasileira. Em abril de 1880 o então Ministro da Marinha, Almirante José Rodrigues de Lima Duarte, apresentou um relatório à Câmara dos Deputados sobre a urgência de se modernizar a Marinha Imperial, com a adoção de então modernos navios encouraçados. A intenção do Almirante era a de adquirir duas dessas embarcações junto a estaleiros britânicos, e desse modo, foram encomendados os encouraçados Riachuelo e Aquidabã.
context_page_description: The Imperial Brazilian Navy was the navy created at the time of the independence of the Empire of Brazil from the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves. It existed between 1822 and 1889 during the vigency of the constitutional monarchy. The Navy was formed almost entirely by ships, staff, organizations and doctrines proceeding from the transference of the Portuguese Royal Family in 1808. Some of its members were native-born Brazilians, who under Portugal had been forbidden to serve. Other members were Portuguese who adhered to the cause of separation and German and Irish mercenaries. Some establishments created by King João VI were used and incorporated. Under the reign of Emperor Pedro II the Navy was greatly expanded to become the fifth most powerful navy in the world and the armed force more popular and loyal to the Brazilian monarchy. The republican coup d'état in 1889, led by army men, put an end to the Imperial Navy that fell into decay until the new century.
context_section_description: During the 1870s, the Brazilian Government strengthened the navy as the possibility of a war against Argentina over Paraguay's future became quite real. Thus, it acquired a gunboat and a corvette in 1873; an ironclad and a monitor in 1874; and immediately afterwards two cruisers and another monitor. The improvement of the Armada continued during the 1880s. The Arsenals of the Navy in the provinces of Rio de Janeiro, Bahia, Pernambuco, Pará and Mato Grosso continued to build dozens of warships. Also, four torpedo boats were purchased.
  On 30 November 1883, the Practical School of Torpedoes was created along with a workshop devoted to constructing and repairing torpedoes and electric devices in the Arsenal of Navy of Rio de Janeiro. This Arsenal constructed four steam gunboats and one schooner, all with iron and steel hulls (the first of these categories constructed in the country). The Imperial Armada reached its apex with the incorporation of the ironclad battleships Riachuelo and Aquidabã (both equipped with torpedo launchers) in 1884 and 1885, respectively. Both ships (considered state-of-the-art by experts from Europe) allowed the Imperial Brazilian Navy to retain its position as one of the most powerful naval forces. By 1889, the navy had 60 warships and was the fifth or sixth most powerful navy in the world.
  In the last cabinet of the monarchic regime, the Minister of the Navy, Admiral José da Costa Azevedo (the Baron of Ladário), left the reorganization and modernization of the navy unfinished. The coup that ended the monarchy in Brazil in 1889 was not well accepted by the Navy. Imperial Mariners were attacked when they tried to support the imprisoned Emperor in the City Palace. The Marquis of Tamandaré begged Pedro II to allow him to fight back the coup; however, the Emperor refused to allow any bloodshed. Tamandaré would later be imprisoned by order of the dictator Floriano Peixoto under the accusation of financing the monarchist military in the Federalist Riograndense Revolution.
  The Baron of Ladário remained in contact with the exiled Imperial Family, hoping to restore the monarchy, but ended up ostracized by the republican government. Admiral Saldanha da Gama led the Revolt of the Armada with the objective of restoring the Empire and allied himself with other monarchists who were fighting in the Federalist Revolution. However, all the attempts at restoration were violently crushed. High-ranking Monarchist officers were imprisoned, banished or executed by firing squad without due process of law and their subordinates also suffered harsh punishments.
caption: The Ironclad Warship Aquidabã, launched in 1885, was considered, along with the Riachuelo, one of the most powerful warships in the world.
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