Brazilian cruiser Bahia

Bahia was the lead ship of a two-vessel class of scout cruisers that Armstrong Whitworth built at Elswick for the Brazilian Navy as part of the large naval programme of 1904. Her design borrowed heavily from the British Adventure-class scout cruisers, her keel was laid on 19 August 1907 and she was launched on 20 January 1909, and she was commissioned in May 1910. With her sister Rio Grande do Sul she was the fastest cruiser in the world when she entered service and the first Brazilian warship driven by steam turbines. Her crew joined the Revolta da Chibata, the Revolt of the Lash, in November 1910. In the First World War she was flagship of the Brazilian naval division that escorted convoys from Sierra Leone and Dakar, and the Spanish flu struck her squadron badly. She was rebuilt in 1925 and 1926 with three new turbines and oil-fired boilers, and she escorted convoys in the Second World War. On 4 July 1945 a gunnery accident during anti-aircraft practice set off her depth charges and she sank within minutes with the loss of most of her crew.