The Cabral-class ironclads were a pair of iron-hulled, armored corvettes originally ordered by Paraguay in 1864, but were sold to Brazil when Paraguay defaulted on the payments. Configured as central-battery ironclads, they served during the 1864âÂÂ1870 Paraguayan War between Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay against Paraguay.
The ships were long, had a beam of and drafts of . They displaced . The Cabral class had a pair of steam engines, each driving one propeller. The engines produced a total of and gave the ships a maximum speed of . Their crew consisted of 125 officers and enlisted men.
Cabral was armed with two 70-pounder Whitworth rifled muzzle-loading guns and two smoothbore 68-pounder guns, while Colombo had four 120-pounder Whitworth guns. The ships had a complete waterline belt of wrought iron that ranged in thickness from amidships to at the ends of the ship.