page_title: Imperial Brazilian Navy
section_title: Platine Wars
hierarchical_section_title: Imperial Brazilian Navy / Second Reign, 1831-1889 / Platine Wars
caption_attribution_description: English: Imperial Armada of Brazil in training, 1870s. Português: Armada Imperial do Brasil em treinamento, década de 1870.
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: The conflicts in the Platine region did not cease after the war of 1825. The anarchy caused by the despotic Rosas and his desire to subdue Bolívia, Uruguay and Paraguay forced Brazil to intercede, in the Platine War. The Imperial Government sent a naval force of 17 warships (a ship of the line, 10 corvettes and six steamships) commanded by the veteran John Pascoe Grenfell. The Brazilian fleet succeeded in passing through the Argentine line of defence at the Tonelero Pass under heavy attack and transported the troops to the theater of operations. The Imperial Navy had a total of 59 vessels of various types in 1851: 36 armed sailing ships, 10 armed steamships, seven unarmed sailing ships and six sailing transports. Victorious in an international war, the Imperial Navy consolidated like naval power of South America guaranteeing the hegemony to Brazil in the Rio de La Plata.
  More than a decade later the Navy was once again modernized and its fleet of old sailing ships was converted to a fleet of 40 steamships armed with more than 250 cannons. In 1864 the navy fought in the Uruguayan War and immediately afterwards in the Paraguayan War where it annihilated the Paraguayan Navy in the Battle of Riachuelo, the biggest naval battle of the Latin America. The navy was further augmented with the acquisition of 20 ironclads and six fluvial monitors. At least 9,177 navy personnel fought in the five years' conflict. Brazilian naval constructors such as Napoleão Level, Trajano de Carvalho and João Cândido Brasil planned new concepts for warships that allowed the country's Arsenals to retain their competitiveness with other nations. All damage suffered by ships was repaired and various improvements were made to them. In 1870, Brazil had 94 modern warships and had the fifth most powerful navy in the world.
caption: Training of the Armada during the 1870s.
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