Brazilian ironclad Barroso

The Brazilian ironclad ''Barroso'' was an armoured gunboat built for the Brazilian Navy during the Paraguayan War in the mid-1860s. ''Barroso'' bombarded Paraguayan fortifications in 1866 and 1867 a number of times before she participated in the Passagem de Humaitá in February 1868. Afterwards the ship provided fire support for the army for the rest of the war. She was assigned to the Mato Grosso Flotilla after the war. ''Barroso'' was decommissioned in 1882, but was not scrapped until 1937.

Design and description

''Barroso'' was designed to meet the need of the Brazilian Navy for a small, simple, shallow-draft armored ship capable of withstanding heavy fire. The ship is best characterized as a central battery design because the casemate did not extend the length of the ship. A bronze ram, long, was fitted. The hull was sheathed with Muntz metal to reduce biofouling. For sea passages the ship's free board could be increased to by use of removable bulwarks high. On riverine operations, the bulwarks and the ship's masts were usually removed.Gratz, p. 144

The ship measured long overall, with a beam of and had a mean draft of . ''Barosso'' normally displaced and at deep load. Her crew numbered 149 officers and men.

Propulsion

''Barroso'' had a single John Penn & Sons 2-cylinder steam engine driving a single 2-bladed propeller. Her engine was powered by two tubular boilers. The engine produced a total of which gave the ship a maximum speed of . The ship's funnel was mounted directly in front of her casemate. ''Barroso'' carried enough coal for six days' steaming.

Armament

''Barroso'' mounted one 120-pounder Whitworth and two 70-pounder Whitworth rifled muzzle loaders, two 68-pounder and two 12-pounder smoothbore guns in her casemate. To minimize the possibility of shells or splinters entering the casemate through the gun ports they were as small as possible, allowing only a 24°-arc of fire for each gun. The rectangular, casemate had two gun ports on each side as well as the front and rear.Gratz, p. 147

The shell of the 120-pounder gun weighed while the gun itself weighed . The 70-pounder gun weighed and fired a shell that weighed . The solid shot of the 68-pounder gun weighed approximately while the gun itself weighed . The gun had a range of at an elevation of 12°. The exact type of 12-pounder gun is not known. All of the guns could fire both solid shot and explosive shells.

Armor

The hull of ''Barroso'' was made from three layers of wood, each thick. The ship had a complete wrought iron waterline belt, high. It had a maximum thickness of covering the machinery and magazines, elsewhere. The curved deck, as well as the roof of the casemate, was armoured with of wrought iron. The casemate was protected by 102 millimetres of armour on all four sides, backed by of wood capped with a 102 mm layer of peroba hardwood.

Service

''Barroso'' was laid down at the Arsenal de Marinha da Côrte in Rio de Janeiro on 21 February 1865. She was launched on 4 November 1865 and completed on 11 January 1866. On 26–28 March 1866 she bombarded the Paraguayan fortifications at Curupaity where she was hit 20 times, but not significantly damaged. The ship bombarded Curuzu Fort, downstream of Curupaity, on 1 September in company with the ironclads , , , , and the monitor . The ships bombarded Curupaity again on 4 September and ''Barroso'' was hit four more times.Gratz, p. 149 On 22 September the Allied army attempted to storm the fortifications at Curupaity, supported by fire from the Brazilian ironclads, but was rebuffed with heavy losses. Between 24 and 29 December ''Barroso'', ''Tamandaré'', ''Brasil'', and 11 gunboats bombarded Curuzu Fort again.

The Brazilians broke through the river defences at Curupaity during daylight on 15 August 1867 with ''Barroso'', ''Tamanadaré'', and eight other ironclads. The ships were hit 256 times, but not seriously damaged, and only suffered 10 killed and 22 wounded. They repeated the operation again on 9 September. On 19 February 1868 six Brazilian ironclads, including ''Barroso'', steamed past Humaitá at night. Three river monitors, , and were lashed to the larger ironclads in case any engines were disabled by the Paraguayan guns. ''Barroso'' led with ''Rio Grande'', followed by ''Bahia'' with ''Alagoas'' and ''Tamandaré'' with ''Pará''. ''Barroso'' continued upstream with the other undamaged ships and they bombarded Asunción on 24 February. On 23 March ''Rio Grande'' and ''Barroso'' sank the steamer ''Igurey'' and both ships were boarded by Paraguayan soldiers on the evening of 9 July, although they managed to repel the boarders.Gratz, pp. 149–50

After the war the ship served with the Mato Grosso Flotilla and was decommissioned in 1882. However, ''Barroso'' was not scrapped until 1937.Gratz, p. 150

Footnotes

References

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External links

Brief history of ''Barroso''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barroso
Ships built in Brazil
Gunboats of the Brazilian Navy
Ironclad warships of the Brazilian Navy
1865 ships
Riverine warfare