Rio Grande do Sul was part of a large 1904 naval building program by Brazil.[5][6] Also planned as part of this were the two Minas Geraes-classdreadnoughts, ten Pará-class destroyers, three submarines and a submarine tender.[6][7] With a design that borrowed heavily from the British Adventure-class scout cruisers,[1]Rio Grande do Sul's keel was laid in 1907 in Armstrong Whitworth's Elswick, Newcastle upon Tyne yard.[1] Construction took about a year and a half, and she was launched on 20 April 1909 with Madame A. M. Gomez Ferraz being the sponsor on behalf of Her Excellency Senhora Dr. Carlos Barbosa.[8] As a class, Bahia and Rio Grande do Sul were the fastest cruisers in the world when they were commissioned,[1] and the first in the Brazilian Navy to utilize steam turbines for propulsion.[3]
Brook, Peter (1999). Warships for Export: Armstrong Warships 1867 – 1927. Gravesend, Kent, UK: World Ship Society. ISBN0-905617-89-4.
Moore, John, ed. Jane's Fighting Ships of World War I. London: Random House [Jane's Publishing Company], 2001 [1919]. ISBN1-85170-378-0. OCLC48257502.
"Rio Grande do Sul I." Serviço de Documentação da Marinha – Histórico de Navios. Diretoria do Patrimônio Histórico e Documentação da Marinha, Departamento de História Marítima. Accessed 27 January 2015.