Brazilian cruiser Rio Grande do Sul

Rio Grande do Sul was a Bahia class cruiser built for the Brazilian Navy and completed in 1909 and 1910. She belonged to the large Brazilian naval building programme of 1904, which also planned the two Minas Geraes class dreadnoughts, ten Para class destroyers, three submarines and a submarine tender. Her design borrowed heavily from the British Adventure class scout cruisers. Her keel was laid in 1907 at the Armstrong Whitworth yard at Elswick, Newcastle upon Tyne, and she was launched on 20 April 1909. When commissioned, the Bahia class ships were the fastest cruisers in the world and the first in the Brazilian Navy to use steam turbines for propulsion.