The Brazilian Navy is the oldest service branch in the Armed Forces, and as such, has formal precedence in official texts and ceremonies. Officially, it derives from the Portuguese
Secretariat of State of the Navy and of the Overseas Affairs, created on July 28, 1736. Upon
Brazilian independence in 1822, some of the institutions, ships and personnel of the
Portuguese Navy in the Americas defected to the new state. The commanding body for this new institution was the Navy Ministry, whose first commander was appointed on October 28, 1822. In 1999 the Navy Ministry was downgraded to Navy Command, subordinate to the newly created
Ministry of Defense. The fleet's evolution over the 19th and 20th centuries followed cycles of roughly four decades of expansion and contraction. High points were achieved in 1830, 1870,
1910,
1945 and 1980. The 20th century Navy was a regional trend-setter as the first in Latin America to acquire
dreadnought battleships,
submarines and
aircraft carriers.
19th century The Navy was actively used by the
Brazilian Empire (1822–1889), transporting and supplying the
army, cutting off enemy
lines of communication through
blockades and defending its own lines from enemy
commerce raiding. The expulsion of remaining Portuguese forces from South America in the
Brazilian War of Independence and quelling of internal revolts in the
Regency period (1831–1840) conserved the integrity of the new state. Although only one rebellion had a naval force (the
Riograndense Republic), naval logistics were decisive. The 1822 fleet was modest and had to be complemented with foreign mercenaries, such as the British veteran
Thomas Cochrane, and ships bought in a national subscription. There was a local industry for wooden ships since the
colonial period, although the artillery came from Europe. Rifled barrels and
steamships were adopted in the 1830s and 1840s. On interstate wars in the Platine basin (
Cisplatine, 1825–1828,
Platine, 1851–1852, and
Triple Alliance, 1864–1870), successful naval campaigns were the foundation of Imperial foreign policy. The longest campaign, in 1860s Paraguay, was a slow ascent of the Paraná and Paraguay rivers in coordination with the Army, facing enemy artillery and boarding parties, diseases killing more than combat and maintenance difficulties. Notable engagements took place in
Riachuelo,
Curupayty and
Humaitá. In 1870 the Brazilian Navy had grown to the world's fifth largest in ship numbers, although they were mostly wooden vessels for riverine warfare. This cycle of conventional warfare ended in 1870, reducing political interest in naval power, at the same time as technological advancements no longer allowed an unindustrialized state to sustain a modern fleet on its own resources. By the end of the century, shipbuilding had all but ceased and Brazil was an importer of ships. The 1889
Proclamation of the Republic was the Army's initiative, having diverged in the social composition and ideological influences of its officer corps. Parts of the Navy launched two
naval revolts against the first two presidents, in 1891 and 1893–1895. Their defeat left Brazilian naval power in profound decay by the turn of the century, while the Army grew in political strength and budget share. What was left of the fleet in 1899, two
battleships, two
coastal defense ships, four
armored cruisers, five gunboats and thirteen
torpedo boats, was inferior to the Argentine and Chilean navies.
World Wars , one of the two stars of the 1910 fleet, overflied by a Naval Aviation seaplane|left Brazil entered the two world wars, in
1917–1918 and
1942–1945, with essentially the same navy: the "1910 Fleet", composed of two
Minas Gerais-class dreadnought battleships, two
Bahia-class cruisers, ten
Pará-class destroyers, three
Foca-class submersibles and auxiliary vessels. It was ordered at British shipyards at the heights of the
coffee and
rubber booms, with the endorsement of the
Minister of Foreign Affairs, the
Baron of Rio Branco. Brazil never managed to make full use of the dreadnoughts' potential. It depended on foreign industry for their maintenance and the Navy's human resources were insufficiently professionalized. The latter came to light when seamen mutinied against the enduring practice of
corporal punishment in the 1910
Revolt of the Lash. The order set off a
naval arms race with Argentina and Chile and the 1910 fleet was quickly outmatched. Investment was minimal in the
interwar period, but there was a gradual professionalization. A
Naval Aviation branch, created in 1916, was disbanded in 1941 upon the creation of the
Brazilian Air Force. A modest naval program in 1932 revived shipbuilding, matching the wider industrializing policy of the
Getúlio Vargas government. The Navy fought on the government's side during internal conflicts in the 1920s and 1930s, such as in the blockade of the
Port of Santos during the
Constitutionalist Revolution of 1932. On the other hand, parts of the Navy joined the
tenentist and
integralist insurrections. Naval tenentism was weaker than its counterpart in the Army, as the Navy had a better relationship with the civilian political elite. An admiral's participation in the 1930 military junta was a novelty, with the Navy and Army now taking power together. In both world wars, the cause of Brazilian entry was the sinking of civilian shipping by
German submarines. The 1964 coup installed a
military dictatorship which would last until 1985. The new regime purged military personnel aligned with the previous government, and the Navy was most affected.
Civic-social actions to riverine populations were now understood as an insurgency prevention method. Amphibious doctrine envisioned landings against insurgent-held territories or rebel troops. The Marine Corps and naval intelligence service were engaged in political repression. The 1963 "
Lobster War", a mobilization against the
French Navy without a direct confrontation, laid bare the fleet's low state of readiness. To renew the stock of vessels, the 1967 naval program, implemented during the
Brazilian Miracle, ordered modern ships in European shipyards. The highlight of this program was the six British-designed
Niterói-class frigates, through which the Brazilian Navy entered the missile age. Two of them were assembled in Brazil, where industrialization was now a consensus in the officer corps. In 1980, the fleet had in service the
Minas Gerais, twelve destroyers, six
frigates, eight submarines, two
tank landing ships and twelve thousand marines. 87% of ships had been built in other states and 57% dated to the 1940s and 1950s. The 1977 program sought to continue this process, introducing, amongst other items, the local construction of submarines and a
nuclear program, but the late 20th century
economic crisis and transition dragged the projects into the 21st century.
Post-Cold War The end of the Cold War completed another shift in naval thought: the priority given to anti-submarine warfare was dropped, along with its geopolitical premises. The prevailing idea was a balanced fleet with diverse capabilities. The Argentine Navy declined in the 1990s, shifting the balance of power. but the Brazilian Navy was now having to rely once again on second-hand ships, with its naval industry in crisis. Among them was the aircraft carrier
São Paulo (A-12), formerly the French Navy's
Foch, purchased in 2000 to replace the
Minas Gerais. Brazil retained the prestigious title of "carrier power", but couldn't extract much value out of the ship due to its severe maintenance difficulties and obsolete fixed-wing
A-4 Skyhawk aircraft in its air wing. Brazil's international commitments in
United Nations peacekeeping missions included deployments of marines to
MINUSTAH in
Haiti (2004–2017) and a ship to
UNIFIL in
Lebanon (2011–2020). The fleet shrank: from 2000 to 2022, decommissionings exceeded commissionings, and there were plans to put another 40% of the fleet out of service until 2028. By 2007 the Navy's commander already spoke of a "critical state of material and technological obsolescence". The National Defense Strategy, published in the following year, contained a political promise to raise the military to match Brazil's desired status as a first-rank power. The Navy responded with an ambitious expansion plan which would double the fleet in size until the 2030s and commission expensive vessels such as two aircraft carriers and six nuclear submarines. Equipment targets would be supplied, as much as possible, by national industry. This plan found a
deteriorating economic outlook and was shelved in its original form, but several projects survived, while second-hand ships covered other gaps in the inventory. For the Navy's greatest ambition since the 1970s, the nuclear submarine, technical assistance from
France was sought for the large-scale and ongoing
Submarine Development Program (ProSub). The
São Paulo was replaced by the helicopter carrier
Atlântico (A-140), formerly the Royal Navy's HMS
Ocean (L-12), in 2018. The Navy describes ProSub in grandiose terms, with the
Álvaro Alberto becoming "our country's maximal strategic deterrence force". Controversial points in the ProSub and PNM are Brazil's true strategic objective, the cost-benefit ratio of their massive investments and ensuing neglect towards other sectors, and Brazil's relationship with international
non-proliferation agencies.
multiple rocket launcher adapted to fire the MANSUP anti-ship missile|left The PFCT comprises the construction of four frigates in
Itajaí,
Santa Catarina, by a consortium between
Embraer, Atech and
ThyssenKrupp. The first frigate was
launched in 2024, and the conclusion was scheduled for 2029. The Antarctic support ship
Almirante Saldanha is under construction at the Jurong Shipyard in
Aracruz,
Espírito Santo. Progress on SisGAAz has slowed down and the program is likely to be fragmented for investment into priority maritime areas. SisGAAz will connect existing systems with satellites,
unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), radars and underwater sensors to establish
maritime domain awareness over much of the South Atlantic.
SIATT, a domestic company with an Emirati stake, was contracted for industrial-scale production of
MANSUP, an
anti-ship missile of domestic design, and to develop
surface-to-air and
air-to-surface versions. MANSUP has been adapted for Marine Corps artillery, and the marines seek a coastal defense capability. Naval Aviation and the Marine Corps have UAV programs, and an
unmanned surface vehicle (USV) was tested for the first time in 2023.
Planning at the Itaguaí Naval Complex The Strategic Navy Plan 2040, published in 2020, discloses procurement aims for the next twenty years after publishing. Another document, the 2023 Maritime Defense Strategy, established intended capabilities for the next twenty years after 2024. It plans for a fleet with the following components: • Maritime Intervention Force: eight escorts, a fixed-wing-capable aircraft carrier, 16 reconnaissance, attack and anti-submarine aircraft in the carrier, eight reconnaissance and attack aircraft in the escorts and 40 UAVs. • Projection Force: the same aircraft carrier, three landing ships, nine landing craft, a battalion of marines, eight transport helicopters and six attack helicopters. • Maritime Protection Force: ten offshore patrol vehicles, 20 500-ton patrol boats and yet undefined patrol aircraft. • Attrition Force: four conventional submarines and a nuclear submarine. • Combat Logistics Force: two replenishment oilers, a submarine tender, four seagoing tugs and a
casualty treatment ship. • Mine Warfare Force: three minesweepers, ten
minelayers, a mine warfare-capable
submarine rescue ship and undefined unmanned systems. • Hydroceanographic Services Force: six hydrographic ships, a hydrographic research ship, five buoy tender ships, eight buoy tender avisos, eleven hydrographic motor boats, a riverine hydrographic ship, five riverine hydrographic avisos and eight riverine buoy tender motor boats. •
C5VIR Force: the SisGAAz and command and control elements. • Antarctic Research Support Force: two antarctic research support ships, three aircraft and an antarctic station. == Organization ==