Brazilian corvette Liberal

Last updated
History
Flag of Portugal (1750).svgKingdom of Portugal
NameGaivota do Mar [1]
Namesake Gull
Acquired30 September 1791
FateJoined Brazil, 1822 [1] [2]
Flag of Empire of Brazil (1822-1870).svgEmpire of Brazil
NameLiberal
Namesake Liberal
Commissioned1822
Decommissioned1840s [2]
FateScrapped
General characteristics
Type Brig, later converted to corvette
Length100 ft (30 m) [3]
Beam30 ft (9.1 m) [3]
Depth17 ft (5.2 m) [3]
ComplementBrig: 130 – 155 [3]
Armament
  • Brig: 22 cannons, including 2 × 18-pounder and 20 × 24-pounder long guns [1] [3]
  • Corvette: 24 cannons [3]

Liberal was a corvette of the Imperial Brazilian Navy. She was originally built as a brig named Gaivota do Mar before joining the Brazilian cause during the war of independence, being renamed and converted to a corvette.

History

Liberal, originally Gaivota do Mar, was built at the Lisbon Navy Arsenal and launched in the river Tagus on 30 September 1791. In the six years that followed, two Portuguese officers - Rodrigo Antônio de Morais de Lamare and Pedro Antônio Nunes - who would later reach the rank of vice admiral in the Brazilian Navy both served on board of her. [3] She was not a part of the royal fleet that crossed the Atlantic at first during the transfer of the Portuguese court to Brazil, as she was still in no condition to make the crossing. [3]

She took part in the Portuguese campaigns in the Banda Oriental, escorting the convoy carrying the Royal Volunteers Division from Rio de Janeiro to Montevideo in June 1812 during the first invasion. On 27 October 1817, in the waters of the Río de la Plata off Colonia del Sacramento, she engaged the Argentine privateer Atrevido del Sud, crewed by 240 men and armed with sixteen 24-pounder and 4 18-pounder guns. An intense engagement followed, with the enemy vessel only striking its colors after a third of its crew had fallen in battle. Gaivota do Mar's captain, João Batista Lourenço da Silva, was commended by the commander of the Luso-Brazilian army Carlos Frederico Lecor for his success in the naval action. [3]

Upon returning from the Banda Oriental campaign, she went through an overhaul, being remodeled, converted to a corvette and renamed Liberal in early 1822. In the first few months of the Brazilian War of Independence she took part mainly in troop transport escorts and dealing with mutiny attempts. The Liberal herself would have a mutiny attempt foiled on board on 17 September 1822, with 12 sailors being taken prisoner and escorted to the corvette Maria da Glória for imprisonment. [3]

In 15 November, now officially under the Brazilian Imperial ensign, Liberal reached Montevideo, where she joined with David Jewett's fleet. They would reach Rio de Janeiro on 12 January 1823, being incorporated into the squadron led by Thomas Cochrane that would take part in the Battle of 4 May. After the inconclusive battle, she returned to Rio de Janeiro on 17 May and left towards Montevideo on 12 August, where the Brazilian commander, Pedro Antônio Nunes, made her his flagship. She was the first ship to open fire upon the defending Portuguese fleet in the naval battle off Montevideo, losing a mast during the battle but having an important role in the victory won. [3]

In July 1825, she was made flagship of the First Division by Vice-Admiral Rodrigo Ferreira Lobo during the Cisplatine War. On 9 February 1826, she was damaged in the Battle of Punta Colares by enemy fire, but still took part in the battles of Colonia del Sacramento in 8 March and Banco Ortiz by 3 May. After Vice-Admiral Rodrigo Ferreira Lobo was relieved by Admiral Rodrigo Pinto Guedes, Liberal was assigned to the Second Division, tasked with patrolling the inner line of the blockade, between Colonia del Sacramento, Buenos Aires and Ensenada. She was present during the attack on Los Pozos in 11 June and during the Battle of Quilmes, where the Argentine flagship 25 de Mayo was sunk. Liberal also took part in the Battle of Monte Santiago in 7–8 April 1827. [3]

In 1843, she was converted to a barracks for the Imperial Sailors Corps in the Port of Rio de Janeiro, and was decommissioned not long afterwards. [3]

Related Research Articles

The Brazilian Navy is the naval service branch of the Brazilian Armed Forces, responsible for conducting naval operations.

Banda Oriental, or more fully Banda Oriental del Río Uruguay, was the name of the South American territories east of the Uruguay River and north of Río de la Plata that comprise the modern nation of Uruguay, the modern state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, and part of the modern state of Santa Catarina, Brazil. It was the easternmost territory of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cisplatine War</span> 1825–1828 war between Brazil and the United Provinces of the River Plate

The Cisplatine War was an armed conflict fought in the 1820s between the Empire of Brazil and the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata over control of Brazil's Cisplatina province. It was fought in the aftermath of the United Provinces' and Brazil's independence from Spain and Portugal, respectively, and resulted in the independence of Cisplatina as the Oriental Republic of Uruguay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spanish–Portuguese War (1735–1737)</span>

The Spanish-Portuguese War between 1735-1737 was fought over the Banda Oriental, roughly present-day Uruguay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederico Mariath</span>

Frederico Mariath was a Brazilian admiral in the Imperial Brazilian Navy who participated in the Cisplatine War and some of Brazil's internal conflicts of the early 19th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of 4 May</span> Naval battle during the Brazilian War of Independence

The Battle of 4 May was fought in open sea near Salvador, Bahia, on 4 May 1823, between the Imperial Brazilian Navy, under the command of British admiral Thomas Cochrane, and the Portuguese Navy during the Brazilian War of Independence.

Brazilian corvette <i>Barroso</i> (V-34)

Cv Barroso (V-34) is a corvette of the Brazilian Navy, and the lead ship of its sub class. The fifth Brazilian warship to be named after Admiral Francisco Manoel Barroso da Silva, Barroso was launched on 20 December 2002 and commissioned on 19 August 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joaquim José Inácio, Viscount of Inhaúma</span> Brazilian military leader and politician (1808–1869)

Joaquim José Inácio, Viscount of Inhaúma, was a naval officer, politician and monarchist of the Empire of Brazil. He was born in the Kingdom of Portugal, and his family moved to Brazil two years later. After Brazilian independence in 1822, Inhaúma enlisted in the Brazilian navy. Early in his career during the latter half of the 1820s, he participated in the subduing of secessionist rebellions: first the Confederation of the Equator, and then the Cisplatine War, which precipitated a long international armed conflict with the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Paso de Mercedes</span> Event in the Paraguay War

The Battle of Paso de Mercedes was fought on 11 August 1865 during the Paraguayan invasion of the Argentine province of Corrientes.

Voador was a brig launched in 1790 at Lisbon. In 1808–1809, she was one of the vessels in the small Anglo-Portuguese squadron thatcaptured French Guiana. In 1820, she was re-classed as a corvette. In 1823, she was transferred to the Brazilian Navy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Imperial Brazilian Navy</span> Navy of the Brazilian Empire between 1822 and 1889

The Imperial Brazilian Navy was the navy created at the time of the independence of the Empire of Brazil from the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves. It existed between 1822 and 1889 during the vacancy of the constitutional monarchy.

Brazilian frigate <i>Liberal</i> Niterói-class Frigates

F Liberal (F-43) is a Niterói-class frigate of the Brazilian Navy. She was the fourth ship of her class ordered by the Brazilian Navy, on 20 September 1970. Liberal was launched on 7 February 1977, and was commissioned on 18 November 1978.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Punta Colares</span> First major naval engagement of the Cisplatine War

The naval Battle of Punta Colares, also known as the Battle of Corales, was the first major naval engagement of the Cisplatine War. It took place between a fleet of the Empire of Brazil, commanded by admiral Rodrigo José Ferreira Lobo, and a squadron of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata under the command of admiral William Brown. The confrontations began at around 10 o'clock on 9 February 1826 and lasted for seven hours.

Brazilian frigate <i>Amazonas</i>

The steam frigate Amazonas was a frigate-type warship that served in the Imperial Brazilian Navy and, for a short period, in the Brazilian Navy after the Proclamation of the Republic in 1889. The frigate was built in the Thomas Wilson Sons & Co. shipyards in Birkenhead and Liverpool, England; it was launched in August 1851. The purchase of this vessel was part of an effort by the Empire of Brazil to obtain more modern ships, due to the country's lag with some foreign powers. Amazonas was commissioned in 1852.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Colonia del Sacramento (1826)</span>

The battle of Colonia del Sacramento consisted of a series of failed attempts made by admiral William Brown of capturing the town of Colonia del Sacramento, which was under Brazilian control and being sieged on land by insurgent Uruguayan forces, in the context of the Cisplatine War between the Empire of Brazil and the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata. The confrontations began in the morning of 26 February 1826 and ended on 14 March 1826.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manuel Jorge Rodrigues, 1st Baron of Taquari</span>

Manuel Jorge Rodrigues, 1st Baron of Taquari, was a Portuguese-born Brazilian general and politician. A veteran of the Peninsular War, Rodrigues distinguished himself in many battles during that campaign fighting alongside the British. During the Cisplatine War he commanded the defense of the town of Colonia del Sacramento from an Argentine attack over the course of February–March 1826. Later on he also fought internal revolts in Brazil. Rodrigues briefly held the office of president of the Pará province during the Cabanagem revolt in 1835, after which he was sent to southern Brazil in order to fight the rebels in the Ragamuffin War, the longest civil war in Brazilian history, that broke out during the Regency period in the provinces of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina.

Brazilian ship <i>Pedro I</i> Brazilian naval vessel (1763–1833)

Pedro I was a ship of the line of the Imperial Brazilian Navy. It was a third-rate, three-masted, two-decked, 74-gunned sailing ship. The ship was built by Antônio da Silva in the Bahia Navy Arsenal in Salvador for the Portuguese Navy in Colonial Brazil in 1763. First named Santo António e São José, it took part in several naval actions in the decades after its construction such as the bombardment of Algiers in 1784.

Brazilian corvette <i>Pedro II</i> 19th century Brazilian warship

Pedro II was a steam corvette warship that served in the Imperial Brazilian Navy in the second half of the 19th century. It took part in the Platine War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Montevideo Naval Division</span> Military unit

The Montevideo Naval Division or Rio da Prata Naval Division was a Brazilian naval division based at the Port of Montevideo and operating in Uruguay from 1851 to 1878.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexandrino Faria de Alencar</span>

Alexandrino Faria de Alencar was a Brazilian admiral and politician who served as Minister of the Navy several times during the First Brazilian Republic. During his many tenures as minister of the navy, Alencar carried out substantial reforms and modernizations in the Brazilian Navy.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Silva, Jorge Manuel Moreira (2009). A MARINHA DE GUERRA PORTUGUESA, DESDE O REGRESSO DE D. JOÃO VI A PORTUGAL E O INÍCIO DA REGENERAÇÃO (1821-1851) (PDF) (in Portuguese). University of Lisbon. p. 64. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2018-09-04. Retrieved 2023-04-17.
  2. 1 2 "Corveta Liberal" (in Portuguese). Poder Naval. Retrieved 2 September 2024.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 "Corveta Liberal" (PDF) (in Portuguese). Diretoria do Patrimônio Histórico e Documentação da Marinha. Retrieved 2 September 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.