The Arsenal de Marinha do Rio de Janeiro (AMRJ) is a military organization of the

Brazilian Navy ) , colors= Blue and white , colors_label= Colors , march= "Cisne Branco" ( en, "White Swan") (same name as training ship ''Cisne Branco'' , mascot= , equipment= 1 multipurpose aircraft carrier7 submarines6 frigates2 corvettes4 amphibious warf ...

. It is located in

Ilha das Cobras Ilha das Cobras () is an island located within Guanabara Bay in the city and state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is east of the neighborhood Guanabara. It is home to the Arsenal de Marinha do Rio de Janeiro base of the Brazilian Navy ) , color ...

, at the

Guanabara Bay Guanabara Bay ( pt, Baía de Guanabara, ) is an oceanic bay located in Southeast Brazil in the state of Rio de Janeiro. On its western shore lie the cities of Rio de Janeiro and Duque de Caxias, and on its eastern shore the cities of Niterói a ...

, in the city of

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

. The Arsenal is the main maintenance center and naval base of the Brazilian Navy, involving the design, construction and maintenance of ships and submarines, not only for the Brazilian Navy, but also friendly nations. The AMRJ provides shipbuilding services both for military strategic reasons (mastery of technologies, seeking the reduction of external dependence), as economic ones, seeking nationalisation of components and the encouragement of domestic industry.

History

The institution dates back to the installation of the Arsenal of Rio de Janeiro, at the foot of the hill of St. Benedict. Created on 29 December 1763, by the governor-general of Brazil António Álvares da Cunha, the first Count da Cunha, with the purpose of repairing ships of the

Portuguese Navy The Portuguese Navy ( pt, Marinha Portuguesa, also known as ''Marinha de Guerra Portuguesa'' or as ''Armada Portuguesa'') is the naval branch of the Portuguese Armed Forces which, in cooperation and integrated with the other branches of the Port ...

. At the time, the capital of the

colony In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the ''metropole, metropolit ...

was being transferred from Salvador to Rio de Janeiro, among other reasons, for a better protection of the

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

that came from

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...

by the

Royal Road The Royal Road was an ancient highway reorganized and rebuilt by the Persian king Darius the Great (Darius I) of the first (Achaemenid) Persian Empire in the 5th century BC. Darius built the road to facilitate rapid communication on the western ...

. With the arrival of the Portuguese Royal Family in 1808, the Arsenal started to be designated as ''Arsenal Real da Marinha'' or simply as ''Arsenal da Corte''. In 1820, its dependencies began to expand to the Ilha das Cobras. After the independence of Brazil, faced with the need to organize and operate a Navy, the activities of the Arsenal became a priority. At this stage, it started to be called as ''Arsenal Imperial da Marinha'', better known as ''Arsenal de Marinha da Corte''. The nineteenth century watched the transition from sailing to steam navigation. During the so-called Mauá era, vessels were built in the

shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance a ...

in Ponta d'Areia, in

Niterói Niterói (, ) is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality of the state of Rio de Janeiro (state), Rio de Janeiro in the Southeast Region, Brazil, southeast region of Brazil. It lies across Guanabara Bay facing the city of Rio de Janeiro and forms ...

. Later, with the outbreak of the

Paraguayan War The Paraguayan War, also known as the War of the Triple Alliance, was a South American war that lasted from 1864 to 1870. It was fought between Paraguay and the Triple Alliance of Argentina, the Empire of Brazil, and Uruguay. It was the deadlies ...

, vessels for the

Imperial Brazilian Navy The Imperial Brazilian Navy (Portuguese: ''Armada Nacional'', commonly known as ''Armada Imperial'') 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 exis ...

were built in shipyards in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and in the AMRJ. At the end of the conflict, Brazil had the most powerful navy in the

South Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

. In 1938 two Arsenals coexisted: the ''Arsenal de Marinha das Ilha das Cobras'' (AMIC) and the ''Arsenal de Marinha do Rio de Janeiro'' (AMRJ). After 1948, only the Arsenal located in Ilha das Cobras survived, assuming the designation of ''Arsenal de Marinha do Rio de Janeiro''.

Main achievements

Between the construction of surface units and submarines, and the activity of maintenance of the fleet are: * 2005 - 2009 - two dockings and a revitalization program of the aircraft carrier ''

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

''; * 2005 - 2006 - transport of the submarine ''

Timbira Timbira refers to a number of related ethnolinguistic groups of Timbira-speaking Gê peoples native to Northern and Northeastern Brazil. Among those peoples grouped under the name are the Apanyekrá, Apinajé, Kanela, Gavião (Jê), Krahô ...

'' from sea to workshop, using ferries and trucks ("load-in") and realization of its Programme of General Maintenance within a much lower time than the ones on '' Tupi'' and ''

Tamoio A subdivision of the Tupi-Guarani linguistic families, the Tupi people were one of the largest groups of indigenous Brazilians before its colonization. Scholars believe that while they first settled in the Amazon rainforest, from about 2,900 ...

's'' PMGs (General Modernisation Programs); * 2005 - refurbishment of gearboxes of the frigate ''Constituição''; * 2003 - docking of the aircraft carrier ''São Paulo''; * constructing the submarines ''Tamoio'', ''Timbira'', '' Tapajó'' and ''Tikuna'' (''Tikuna'''s construction time was reduced in 11 months, recovering part of the delay, due to budget constraints); * construction of the Niterói Class

frigates A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...

: ''

Independência Independência (Portuguese meaning ''independence'') may refer to: Places in Brazil * Independência, Ceará, a municipality in the state of Ceará * Independência, Rio Grande do Sul, a municipality in the state of Rio Grande do Sul *Independênci ...

'' and '' União''; * construction of the Inhaúma Class

corvette A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the slo ...

s: '' Inhaúma'' and '' Jaceguai''; * Modernization Programme (ModFrag) of all Niterói class frigates. * large repairs in Argentine submarine ARA ''Santa Cruz'', including cutting the hull. The AMRJ was honored by the Pan American Institute of Naval Engineering for its "contribution to the development of the Naval Engineering in the America", in 2002–2003, during the meeting in

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

. The achievement was repeated in 2004–2005, during the meeting in

Guayaquil , motto = Por Guayaquil Independiente en, For Independent Guayaquil , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Ecuador#South America , pushpin_re ...

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

Ships built in AMRJ

* The first ship built on the Arsenal was the ''D. Sebastião'', finished in 1767. * The oldest in operation: monitor ''Parnaíba'', finished in 1937.

Citations

References

* *

External links

Official website

Base Militar Web Magazine - Databank of Brazilian Navy Warships

Poder Naval OnLine - Everything about naval forces in the world.

* ttp://openstreetmap.org/?lat=-22.89592&lon=-43.17168&zoom=17&layers=B000FTF Map of the facilitieson the

OpenStreetMap OpenStreetMap (OSM) is a free, open geographic database updated and maintained by a community of volunteers via open collaboration. Contributors collect data from surveys, trace from aerial imagery and also import from other freely licensed g ...