Brazilian destroyer Pará (1908)

Pará was the lead ship of Pará-class destroyer (1908) destroyers of the Brazilian Navy, serving from 1909 to 1936. She was named after the Brazilian state of Pará.

Description and Construction


In 1904 Brazil adopted an ambitious plan to renovate and modernize its Navy. The Naval Renovation Program was negotiated and enacted in December 1904 and envisioned acquisition of large number of vessels, including a dozen destroyers. In 1906 the program was modified reducing the total number of destroyers to ten. These ships became known as Pará-class destroyer (1908) destroyers.

The ship had an overall length of 240 ft, a beam of 23.5 ft and a draught of 7+5/6 ft. She was powered by 2 triple expansion reciprocating steam engines, driving two shafts, which developed a total of 7014 ihp and gave a maximum design speed of 27 kn. During the trials the contract speed was exceeded, and the vessel was clocked at 27.25 kn. Steam for the turbines was provided by two double-ended Yarrow boilers. During the trials Pará ran 26.337 nmi to the ton of coal. The vessel carried a maximum of 140 LT of coal that gave her a range of about 3692 nmi at 14 kn.

The ship mounted two 4 in guns in single mounts. In addition, four 47 mm (3pdr) cannons in single mounts were deployed at the time of launching.

The official full speed trial for Pará took place on September 16, 1908 in the Firth of the Clyde. During a continuous three hour run with a 100 ton load, the ship exceeded her contract speed of 27 knots.

Her first commander was Captain Felinto Perry.

Incidents during construction
On November 19, 1908, while leaving the Yarrow yard for Greenock Pará collided with a hopper barge. The destroyer sustained only minor damage and proceeded to her destination.