Imperial Brazilian Navy

Under Articles 102 and 148 of the Constitution, the Brazilian Armed Forces were subordinate to the Emperor as Commander-in-Chief.[3] He was aided by the Ministers of War and Navy in matters concerning the Army and the Navy—although the Prime Minister usually exercised oversight of both branches in practice. The ministers of War and Navy were, with few exceptions, civilians.[4][5] The model chosen was the British parliamentary or Anglo-American system, in which "the country's Armed Forces observed unrestricted obedience to the civilian government while maintaining distance from political decisions and decisions referring to borders' security".[6]

Brazil's first line of defense relied upon a large and powerful navy to protect against foreign attack. The military was organized along similar lines to the British and American armed forces of the time. As a matter of policy, the military was to be completely obedient to civilian governmental control and to remain at arm's length from involvement in political decisions. Military personnel were allowed to run for and serve in political office while remaining on active duty. However they did not represent the Army or the Navy, but were instead expected to serve the interests of the city or province which had elected them.[7]

Prince Regent Pedro (right) orders the Portuguese officer Jorge de Avilez (left) to return to Portugal after his failed rebellion.

The action of the navy was essential during the war of independence to avoid the arrival of new Portuguese troops in Brazilian territory. Both parties (Portuguese and Brazilian) saw the Portuguese warships spread across the country (mostly in poor condition) as the instrument through which military victory could be achieved. In early 1822, the Portuguese navy controlled a ship of the line, two frigates, four corvettes, two brigs, and four warships of other categories in Brazilian waters.

Warships available immediately for the new Brazilian navy were numerous, but in disrepair. The hulls of several ships that were brought by the Royal Family and the Court to be abandoned in Brazil were rotten and therefore of little value. The Brazilian agent in London, Marquis of Batley (Philibert Marshal Brant) received orders to acquire warships fully equipped and manned on credit. No vendor, however, was willing to take the risks. Finally, there was an initial public offering, and the new Emperor personally signed for 350 of them, inspiring others to do the same. Thus, the new government was successful in raising funds to purchase a fleet.

Arranging crews was another problem. A significant number of former officers and Portuguese sailors volunteered to serve the new nation, and swore loyalty to it. Their loyalty, however, was under suspicion. For this reason, British officers and men were recruited to fill out the ranks and end the dependence on the Portuguese.

Brazilian Navy was led by British officer Thomas Cochrane. The newly renovated navy experienced a number of early setbacks due to sabotage by Portuguese-born men in the naval crews. But by 1823 the navy had been reformed and the Portuguese members were replaced by native Brazilians, freed slaves, pardoned prisoners as well as more experienced British and American mercenaries. Navy succeeded in clearing the coast of the Portuguese presence and isolating the remaining Portuguese land troops. By the end of 1823, the Brazilian naval forces had pursued the remaining Portuguese ships across the Atlantic nearly as far as the shores of Portugal.

Brazilian Navy and Argentine Navy in naval battle Punta Colares.

The Cisplatine War was a war between the Empire of Brazil and the United Provinces of Rio de la Plata for control of the current territory of Uruguay. Rebels led by Fructuoso Rivera and Juan Antonio Lavalleja carried on resistance against Brazilian rule. In 1825, a Congress of delegates from all over the Eastern Bank met in La Florida and declared independence from Brazil, while reaffirming its allegiance to the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata. In response, Brazil declared war on the United Provinces.

Brazilian Emperor Pedro I ordered his fleet to block the River Plate and its two main ports, Buenos Aires and Montevideo. The Argentina fleet moved south, first to Ensenada and then to distant Carmen de Patagones on the Atlantic Ocean. The Brazilian fleet attempted to take Carmen de Patagones in 1827 and thus tighten its blockade over Argentina, but Brazilian troops were eventually repelled by local civilians. Despite a big battle, a series of smaller clashes ensued, including the naval Battles of Juncal and Monte Santiago.

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.[17] 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.

Training of the Armada during the 1870s.

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.[18] 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.[19] 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.[20] All damage suffered by ships was repaired and various improvements were made to them.[21] In 1870, Brazil had 94 modern warships[22] and had the fifth most powerful navy in the world.[23]

Damage that could be done to ironclads. Tamandaré (left) and Brasil (right) damaged after the earlier attack on Curuzú, a fort much less powerful than Curupayty or Humaitá.

Brazil's first line of military was his large and powerful navy. The navy fulfilled an important role by blocking Paraguayan access to the Plata basin and preventing its communication with the outside world. After the initial Paraguayan advance, the imperial navy went up the paraná and Paraguay rivers containing the Paraguayan advance. On 11 June 1865 the naval Battle of Riachuelo the Brazilian fleet commanded by Admiral Francisco Manoel Barroso da Silva destroyed the Paraguayan navy and prevented the Paraguayans from permanently occupying Argentine territory. The tactic used by Barroso to finally win the battle with the least possible losses was to break the Paraguayan wooden ships with the Brazilian ironclads. For all practical purposes, this battle decided the outcome of the war in favor of the Triple Alliance between Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay; from that point on it controlled the waters of the Río de la Plata basin up to the entrance to Paraguay. Following the victory after the Battle of Riachuelo, and running the gauntlet set up by Paraguayans at Bella Vista in the Battle of Paso de Mercedes the day before, the allied fleet advanced down the River Parana, not wanting to be cut off from its supply base.

After the sequence of battles won by the Allies on 1866, an Allied council of war decided to use their navy to bombard and capture the Paraguayan battery at Curupayti. On 1 September, five Brazilian ironclads, Bahia, Barroso, Lima Barros, Rio de Janeiro and Brasil began bombarding the batteries at Curuzu, which continued the next day. That is when the Rio de Janeiro hit two mines and sank immediately along with her commander Américo Brasílio Silvado, and 50 sailors. Along with the Imperial Army land support, on 3 September, the fort was stormed. The defenders relied on the advantage of the wetlands and bushes around the fort. The fort was conquered after a heavy bombardment. The ironclad "Rio de Janeiro" had a hole blown in her bottom by a torpedo, and sank almost immediately

The Imperial Navy in Humaitá, Paraguay, 1868.

— the greater part of her crew, together with her captain, being drowned. This was the only ironclad which was sunk during the war.

In 1868 occurried another great naval battle; the Passage of Humaitá which was an operation of riverine warfare − the most lethal in South American history − in which a force of six Brazilian Navy armoured vessels was ordered to dash past under the guns of the Fortress of Humaitá on the Paraguay River. Some competent neutral observers had considered that the feat was very nearly impossible. The purpose of the exercise was to stop the Paraguayans resupplying the fortress by river, and to provide the Allies with a much-needed propaganda victory after 4 years of an exhaustive war. The attempt took place on 19 February 1868 and was successful, restoring the reputation of the Brazilian navy and the Empire of Brazil's financial credit, and causing the Paraguayans to evacuate their capital Asunción. Some authors have considered that it was the turning point or culminating event of the war. The fortress, by then fully surrounded by Allied forces on land or blockaded by water, was captured on 25 July 1868.

Pedro II dressed in an admiral's uniform at age 44, 1870—the war years had prematurely aged the Emperor.

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.[11][24] 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.[25]

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.[26] This Arsenal constructed four steam gunboats and one schooner, all with iron and steel hulls (the first of these categories constructed in the country).[25] 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.[27] By 1889, the navy had 60 warships[21] and was the fifth or sixth most powerful navy in the world.[28]

The Ironclad Warship Aquidabã, launched in 1885, was considered, along with the Riachuelo, one of the most powerful warships 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.[21] 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.[29] 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.[30]

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.[31]