The Battleship that Mysteriously Vanished

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São Paulo was a dreadnought battleship of the Brazilian Navy. It was the second of two ships in the Minas Geraes class, and was named after the state and city of São Paulo.

The British company Vickers constructed São Paulo, launching it on 19 April 1909. The ship was Ccommissioned into the Brazilian Navy on 12 July 1910. Soon after, it was involved in the Revolt of the Lash (Revolta de Chibata), in which crews on four Brazilian warships mutinied over poor pay and harsh punishments for even minor offenses. After entering the First World War, Brazil offered to send São Paulo and its sister Minas Geraes to Britain for service with the Grand Fleet, but Britain declined since both vessels were in poor condition and lacked the latest fire control technology. In June 1918, Brazil sent São Paulo to the United States for a full refit that was not completed until 7 January 1920, well after the war had ended. On 6 July 1922, São Paulo fired its guns in anger for the first time when it attacked a fort that had been taken during the Copacabana Fort revolt. Two years later, mutineers took control of the ship and sailed it to Montevideo in Uruguay, where they obtained asylum.

In the 1930s, São Paulo was passed over for modernization due to its poor condition—it could only reach a top speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph), less than half its design speed. For the rest of its career, the ship was reduced to a reserve coastal defense role. When Brazil entered the Second World War, São Paulo sailed to Recife and remained there as the port's main defense for the duration of the war. Stricken in 1947, the dreadnought remained as a training vessel until 1951, when it was taken under tow to be scrapped in the United Kingdom. The tow lines broke during a strong gale on 6 November, when the ships were 150 nmi (280 km; 170 mi) north of the Azores, and São Paulo was lost.

#warships #navy #brazil #battleship #history

[TheBrettWay]

okay that ending was truly shocking.. I thought it was going to be some simple sinking but that literally gave me goosebumps.

[tedthesailor]

Another fascinating story I've never heard before. Many thanks for sharing. I guess if a Battleship can vanish, anything can...

[victormagness]

Additionally, your narrator speaks, flawless, colloquial, English. Very impressive. Well done thank you again. I can understand every word. He deserves a good award for every hour. Thank you.❤

[neptunenavalmods]

Well done video. William Painter's son has made lots of internet posts about his father's last voyage; may his dad and crew RIP. A similar scrap tow tragedy began in my city (Portland) - freighter named "Star K" was laid up in Oregon and scrap-towed West with a runner crew like Sao Paulo - they were warned "Star K" would sink and sure enough she sank off Wake Island - only one man survived. Scrap tug (MV Sumi Maru) saw it sink, so it was not quite as mysterious as Sao Paulo. Ocean salvage will always be dangerous.

[lumberlikwidator]

I had read about the loss of São Paulo years ago in Alan Villier’s excellent book Posted Missing, but this video covered it much more detail. This was well written, researched and well told. Thanks for your fine work!

[markpaul-ymwg]

Thank you very much HIDDEN HISTORY.Interesting story.

[alexbenis]

That crazy design of having the spotting top after the fore funnel, great for roasting the crew up there!

[UJLite]

15:02 Small technical clarification: a 'dead tow' will still be heavily ballasted. In addition to regular ballast, there are huge oil tanks scattered around low in the ship. If there's no plan to reuse the ship, extra ballast can be put there.
Last thing they did back in the day was dumping metal & rocks low in the bilges. That's oversimplified, battleships are very heavy anyway & there's a trade-off between tow load & stability, but hope it clarifies a bit.

[taproom]

Very sad ending. Hopefully some day, her final resting spot can be determined and she and her crew can be properly honored. ^v^

[chrissycarr]

Interesting story, but such a sad ending for this ship.

[j.griffin]

The USS Oklahoma had a similar fate.

She was finally re-floated after Pearl Harbor but it was decided that she was too old and obsolete to put to war.

Her guns and other equipment were re-used on new vessels but
she was sold for scrap.

The same thing happened to her in a large storm on her tow back to the mainland.

The crews on the tugs could barely see her but they realized that she was starting to list badly.

She sank rather suddenly-
she was patched together and was rather open to the weather.

She started dragging her tugs backwards at about 15 knots -
one tug, the Hercules,
almost went down with her.

Fortunately,
there was no one onboard when she went down but the
USS Oklahoma has never been found.

[daveanderson]

Guess that the old girl didn't want to go to the breakers yard.

[mikhailiagacesa]

November is one of the worst times to sail the North Atlantic. They should've departed in a more favorable weather season. Brazil should have scrapped and kept all that hi-grade steel; they would have made more money that way in the long run. All that being said, she was a beautiful Dreadnought. Even more so if she had been maintained. Salute Brazil and the South American Dreadnought Race!

[johnfun]

Sometimes bad things happen even with a good plan. Brave men. Thanks

[seanbigay]

IMHO a humiliating end to a humiliating life.

[jlawsl]

Brazil: The second naval power of the west that just vanished. They had some pretty awesome ships built for them. Though, I never did get the single offset turrets that the Brits and Germans used. They provided limited max firepower to the front and back, but did almost nothing for a broadside. Also, they had already figured out that superfiring turrets provided a better arc of fire, as the ship already had. Why bother with the oddly placed wing turrets? Not a dunk on design, I just really want to know.

[RebeccaCampbell]

One thing ...
Warship
Dreadnought
Battlecruiser

And Battleship, a different class.

Why YT contributions (today) keep mixing up each class... I can forgive British last century propagandists, i mean authors... but today?

Warship means a ship of war...
Battleship means a class type
Super Battleship is a different one, like carrier and super carrier

Thanks for talking about SA's navy's and their conflicts.... A/B/C (Argentina/Brazil/Chile)

[UJLite]

She was a beautiful ship, but as ex-navy, that 2-tier crewing bs gives me no respect for their officers or NCOs. I cleaned many, many toilets & other crap as a Midshipman & "volunteered" to do sh*tty stuff as a SBLT, to prove to the men I wouldn't order anything I wouldn't do myself. "Leaders eat last." ⚓🇦🇺. Cheers from Canberra.

[randelbrooks]

I wouldn't of tried to tow that whole thing back to England.

[bostonrailfan]

misleading title…nothing mysterious about the situation, it happened multiple times before and after to ships bigger and smaller than it