''Aquidabã'' (), anglicized to Aquidaban, was a Brazilian

ironclad An ironclad was a steam engine, steam-propelled warship protected by iron armour, steel or iron armor constructed from 1859 to the early 1890s. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships to explosive or ince ...

battleship A battleship is a large, heavily naval armour, armored warship with a main battery consisting of large naval gun, guns, designed to serve as a capital ship. From their advent in the late 1880s, battleships were among the largest and most form ...

built in the mid-1880s. The ship participated in two naval revolts; during the second she was sunk by a government

torpedo boat A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of ...

. After being refloated, ''Aquidabã'' was sent to (Germany) for repairs and modernization. During a routine cruise in 1906, the ship's ammunition

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s exploded, which caused the vessel to sink rapidly with a great loss of life.

Design

''Aquidabã'' was long, had a beam of , and had a draft of . The ship displaced and had a crew of 277 officers and enlisted men. She was powered by a pair of compound-expansion steam engines, each driving one propeller shaft using steam provided by eight cylindrical boilers; this produced up to for a top speed of . Fuel stores were initially , though after refits this was increased to . ''Aquidabã''s main armament consisted of four guns mounted in two twin

gun turret A gun turret (or simply turret) is a mounting platform from which weapons can be fired that affords protection, visibility and ability to turn and aim. A modern gun turret is generally a rotatable weapon mount that houses the crew or mechanis ...

s, each of which was placed off the centerline, ''en echelon'', with the forward turret offset to port and the aft turret to starboard. Secondary weapons included four guns, two fore and two aft, and thirteen 1-pounder guns, all on single mounts. The ship was also equipped with five

torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...

s; three were above water, while the remaining two were below the

waterline The waterline is the line where the hull of a ship meets the surface of the water. A waterline can also refer to any line on a ship's hull that is parallel to the water's surface when the ship is afloat in a level trimmed position. Hence, wate ...

. The ship was equipped with

compound armor Compound may refer to: Architecture and built environments * Compound (enclosure), a cluster of buildings having a shared purpose, usually inside a fence or wall ** Compound (fortification), a version of the above fortified with defensive struct ...

. The

armored belt Belt armor is a layer of heavy metal armor plated onto or within the outer hulls of warships, typically on battleships, battlecruisers and cruisers, and aircraft carriers. The belt armor is designed to prevent projectiles from penetrating to t ...

was thick in the central portion of the ship, where the most critical parts of the ship were located. This included the propulsion machinery spaces and ammunition magazines. At the ends of the ship, the thickness was reduced to . The main-battery turrets were protected with worth of armor, as was the

conning tower A conning tower is a raised platform on a ship or submarine, often armoured, from which an officer in charge can conn (nautical), conn (conduct or control) the vessel, controlling movements of the ship by giving orders to those responsible for t ...

Construction and career

''Aquidabã'' was built in England by

Samuda Brothers Samuda Brothers was an engineering and ship building firm at Cubitt Town on the Isle of Dogs in London, founded by Jacob and Joseph d'Aguilar Samuda. The site is now occupied by Samuda Estate. Samuda Brothers initially leased a premises on ...

for £345,000

pounds sterling Sterling (Currency symbol, symbol: Pound sign, £; ISO 4217, currency code: GBP) is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories. The pound is the main unit of account, unit of sterling, and the word ''Pound (cu ...

; her

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element of a watercraft, important for stability. On some sailboats, it may have a fluid dynamics, hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose as well. The keel laying, laying of the keel is often ...

was laid on 18 June 1883, and she was launched on 17 January 1885. The ship was a slightly smaller version of the earlier battleship , being shorter, having a lighter draft, and being equipped with only one funnel. After undergoing gunnery trials on 14 August, she sailed from England on 16 December, calling upon

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

and

Bahia Bahia () is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Mina ...

before reaching her ultimate destination of

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

on 29 January 1886.

Rebellions

''Aquidabã'' was part of a rebellion which started on 23 November 1891, headed by Rear Admiral

Custódio José de Melo Custódio José de Melo (9 June 1840 – 15 March 1902) was a Brazilian admiral and monarchist politician. He led the Brazilian fleet in two naval revolts in 1891 and 1893 in opposition to the authoritarian and dictatorial First Brazilian Repub ...

. Two years later (1893), she voyaged to the United States to take part in the

International Naval Review A Naval Review is an event where select vessels and assets of the United States Navy are paraded to be reviewed by the President of the United States or the Secretary of the Navy. Due to the geographic distance separating the modern U.S. Navy ...

. In that same year, she was the

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of navy, naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically ...

of the ''

Revolta da Armada The Brazilian Naval Revolts, or the Revoltas da Armada (in Portuguese), were armed mutiny, mutinies promoted mainly by admirals Custódio José de Melo and Saldanha da Gama and their fleet of rebel Brazilian navy ships against the claimed unco ...

'' (''Revolt of the Navy''), once again led by de Melo. On 16 April 1894, ''Aquidabã'' was anchored off the coast of Santa Catarina, near the Fortress of Anhatomirim. Early in the morning, the first class

, accompanied by three other torpedo boats, attacked ''Aquidabã''; two torpedoes connected with the battleship and she sank in shallow water, inflicting only light damage in return. The battle, which marked the first use of torpedoes by the Brazilian military, signaled the end of the revolution in Brazil. The members of the revolutionary government based in Desterro, in the island of Santa Catarina, fled to the continent; loyalist Colonel Antônio Moreira César would later regain control of the city.Text about the Revolta da Armada
(in Portuguese) Retrieved 26 October 2009. Refloated in June 1894 by government forces, ''Aquidabã'' was quickly renamed to first ''Dezesseis de Abril'' (English: ''16 April''), then ''Vinte e Quatro de Maio'' (English: ''24 May'') due to anger over the ship rebelling twice in four years. Partially repaired, the ship was brought to

Stettin Szczecin ( , , ; ; ; or ) is the capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the German border, it is a major seaport, the largest city of northwestern Poland, and se ...

, Germany, and Elswick, England for a full repair and refitting. The work lasted from 1897 to 1898, and included the installation of two heavy fighting masts.

Later career

In 1900 she was renamed again, this time to restore her original name. In 1904, the ship underwent further modernization at the island of ''

Ilha das Cobras is an island located within Guanabara Bay in the city and state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is east of the neighborhood Guanabara. It is home to the Arsenal de Marinha do Rio de Janeiro base of the Brazilian Navy. See also * List of islands ...

'' (English: ''Snakes Island''), near

. This included the removal of the two heavy masts that had been installed in 1898 and two

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...

tubes. ''Aquidabã'' made many cruises in these years to test the new technology of

wireless telegraphy Wireless telegraphy or radiotelegraphy is the transmission of text messages by radio waves, analogous to electrical telegraphy using electrical cable, cables. Before about 1910, the term ''wireless telegraphy'' was also used for other experimenta ...

and to train

midshipmen A midshipman is an officer of the lowest rank in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Canada (Naval Cadet), Australia, Bangladesh, Namibia, New Zealand, South Afric ...

. On 21 January 1906, ''Aquidabã'' was scheduled to voyage to the port at

Jacarepaguá Jacarepaguá (), with a land area of , is a neighborhood situated in the West Zone of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In 2010, it had a population of 157,326. The name comes from the indigenous name of the location, "shallow pond of caymans", yakaré (c ...

, near Rio de Janeiro, to escort and accommodate the Minister of Marine and his staff, who were attached to the cruiser . They were inspecting sites for use as an

arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

. At about 10:45 pm, when she was moored at Jacuacanga Bay, near ''

Ilha Grande Ilha Grande (), or "big island", is a forested island located around 12 km (7.5 mi) off of the Atlantic coast of Angra dos Reis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and about 243 km (151 mi) from São Paulo. The highest point on Ilha Grande is the tall Pic ...

'' (English: ''Big Island''), the powder

magazines A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

blew up, sinking the ship within three minutes. A total of 212 people were killed, including three admirals and most of the officers of the ship, and 36 were injured; 98 survived.

Notes

Footnotes

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aquidaba Aquidaban Aquidaban Maritime incidents in 1906 1885 ships Shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean Ships sunk by non-combat internal explosions Ships built in Cubitt Town