Infographic of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is also the home port of the Brazilian Navy's aircraft carrier São Paulo. Photo: Xinhua News Agency
According to reports, the Brazilian Navy's last aircraft carrier, the São Paulo, was towed away from the home port of Rio de Janeiro by a Dutch tugboat on August 4 local time, and its final destination was dismantled - last year, the aircraft carrier São Paulo was auctioned off for 10.5 million reais (about $2 million) to a Turkish shipbuilder engaged in ship dismantling.
Before being officially retired from the Brazilian Navy, São Paulo was the largest warship in Brazilian history and at one point the oldest aircraft carrier in the world.
The aircraft carrier Saint Paul was built in France in 1963 and can accommodate a crew of 1,300 and carry 30 fighter jets and helicopters. After the Brazilian government bought it from France for $12 million in 2000, the aircraft carrier São Paulo officially entered service in the Brazilian Navy in April 2001, the second carrier in the country's naval fleet.
Since the retirement of the São Paulo, Brazil, once known as the "top three" of the Latin American Navy, has no aircraft carriers. The Naval Strategic Plan 2040, which was submitted to President Bolsonaro last year, has been included in the new aircraft carrier purchase plan and is still under consideration.
Brazilian President Bolsonaro infographic. Photo: Xinhua News Agency
The aircraft carrier São Paulo is a "longevity ship"
The São Paulo aircraft carrier is a standard medium-sized aircraft carrier that uses conventional power from steam turbines and catapults to block landing. Originally the second Foch of the Clemenceau class of the French Navy, construction began on 15 November 1957, it was launched on 23 July 1960, and it was commissioned on 15 July 1963.
The Foch aircraft carrier can carry fixed-wing carrier-based aircraft such as "Super Flag" attack aircraft, US-made F8 fighters and "Tradewinds" anti-submarine aircraft, as well as various types of helicopters. He has participated in France's South Pacific nuclear tests, armed intervention in Djibouti and Lebanon, NATO's military operations against Yugoslavia, and played the Role of an American aircraft carrier in the military film Red Tide in 1995.
In September 2000, Foch was sold to Brazil for a "friendly price" of $12 million in active service, and was subsequently commissioned into the Brazilian Navy, named São Paulo, and entered the home port of Rio de Janeiro on 17 February 2001.
Because the French Navy sold "bare ships", excluding carrier-based aircraft, Brazil had to purchase an additional 23 American-made A4 Aquila attack aircraft from Kuwait, plus 17 helicopters, to form the Combat Air Wing of the Brazilian Naval Aviation in São Paulo.
At this time, the Brazilian Navy can be described as full of ambition: although the São Paulo is an old ship, it is in a good state under the careful maintenance of the French Navy, and the aircraft carrier is the famous "longevity ship". The São Paulo also made Brazil the third country after the United States and France to have a "standard" aircraft carrier for catapults.
To this end, at the inauguration ceremony of the aircraft carrier São Paulo, then-Brazilian President Cardoso proudly stated that "there are very few navies capable of operating efficiently on the high seas today, and it is important that the Brazilian Navy is among them."
However, on May 17, 2005, the ship's steam turbine network exploded, resulting in 3 deaths and 7 injuries, and the sudden heavy damage forced Brazil to push the ship along the water to carry out a drastic "upgrade" of the ship, and planned to re-enter service in August 2010.
However, poor target management delayed the re-service of the São Paulo until the end of 2013, and in 2012 it caught fire on the ship's platform, leaving it in its home port until the end of 2016, when it could not be commissioned.
To this end, some defense observers pointed out that although the "naked ship" is very cheap, but then the long and ineffective upgrade made the Brazilian Navy spend hundreds of millions of dollars, but only in exchange for São Paulo in 20 years of 20 years of 20 days of 20 days of sea navigation, the cumulative voyage mileage is only 85334 kilometers, the total number of aircraft take-offs and landings is only 566, "this is an unprecedented loss of money, only decommissioning can stop the loss."
On November 22, 2018, the São Paulo was reluctantly retired. To this day, the Turkish shipbuilders took over, and the São Paulo embarked on the road of no return after being dismantled.
With the passage of time, not only the navies of various countries have little interest in second-hand aircraft carriers in poor condition, but also because aircraft carriers are built with a large number of high-pollution fireproof materials such as asbestos, many countries that used to be known for "specially dismantling aircraft carriers" are now insensitive to abandoned aircraft carriers. If Turkey does not quote, the São Paulo is probably the only home for the Indian shipbreaking yard.
On April 23, 2008, local time, the USS Washington aircraft carrier visited Brazil. The Brazilian Navy is attracting considerable attention in Latin America. Photo: Xinhua News Agency
Helping Brazil become the "top three" of Latin American navies
In Latin America, the navy is known as the "ABC" three powers - the arms race between the three major navies of Argentina, Brazil and Chile has continued from the "pre-dreadnought era" to the present, and they are not inferior to each other. Entering the era of aircraft carriers after World War II, the budget-conscious Chile chose not to follow; Argentina introduced the British second-hand aircraft carrier Warrior in 1958, renamed Independence, and in 1969, introduced the same class of ships Dignity, renamed May 25.
At the end of 1999, the Argentine 25 May was sent to an Indian shipbreaking yard for scrapping due to disrepair. At this point, the "ABC" is only one carrier owner country left in Brazil.
Brazil's first aircraft carrier, also a British second-hand aircraft carrier, was originally british revenge, leased and transferred to the Australian Navy in 1952, returned in 1955, and transferred to the Brazilian Navy in 1956, renamed Minas Gerais.
However, Brazil's military government at that time completely regarded the aircraft carrier as a "façade cargo" and stipulated that its "HNA shall not have fixed-wing aircraft", and as a result, this aircraft carrier, which was not bad in "hardware" at that time, was only equipped with 8 US-made S2 anti-submarine fixed-wing aircraft, and the Ship Shanghai Aviation Wing only had helicopters, and its combat effectiveness was even inferior to some light aircraft carriers at that time.
At the end of the 20th century, Brazil, eager to get rid of the dilemma of "having an aircraft carrier but not an aircraft carrier combat effectiveness", began to look for new aircraft carrier partners around the world, and received a number of bids from the Spanish Bazan Shipyard, which was very active in the aircraft carrier global market at that time.
However, the Bazin Shipyard can only produce "bare ships" and is unable to support the main engine and avionics systems, especially the key carrier-based aircraft and catapults, blocking cables, etc. That forced Brazil to turn back to second-hand carriers and hit it off with France, which was peddling two Clemenceau-class second-hand ships.
However, the gap between Brazil's maintenance, supporting capabilities and european and American industrialized powers is large, and the maintenance management is even more lackluster, resulting in the aircraft carrier that is old and strong in the hands of the French is soon disfigured, until it is decommissioned and embarks on the road of no return that was dismantled, and the São Paulo aircraft carrier has not done much in the Brazilian Navy.
But in fact, the dismantling of the São Paulo does not mean that Brazil has followed in Argentina's footsteps and become an "aircraft carrier-free country". On 27 March 2018, the British helicopter carrier HMS Ocean was decommissioned and began to be sold on the global used ship market, which Brazil bought for £84.6 million and entered service with the Brazilian Navy on 29 June 2018, renamed the helicopter carrier Atlantique.
On November 12, 2020, Brazil announced the change of The Atlantic from a helicopter carrier (PHM) to a multi-role aircraft carrier (NAM). Since then, Brazil has nominally become one of the "carrier-owning countries".
On September 7, 2016, local time, rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the Brazilian Navy women's phalanx appeared in the parade. The Brazilian Navy was once called the "Top Three" in Latin America. Photo: Xinhua News Agency
The Atlantic could not meet Brazil's "carrier state" objectives
However, when Atlantic was commissioned in the United Kingdom, it was used as the flagship of an amphibious ship formation, and was not equipped with a skid-jump deck that facilitated short or vertical take-off and fighter jets taking off at full capacity, as british light aircraft carriers did.
Not only that, in order to save money, the Atlantic adopted diesel engine engine and merchant ship construction standards, the maximum speed was only 18 knots, and did not have a strong protection in wartime.
This is very useful for the British Royal Navy, which has multiple aircraft carriers and only needs to use helicopter carriers, but it is somewhat difficult for the Brazilian Navy to use the Atlantic as the main fleet aircraft carrier.
Brazil is clearly interested in making Atlantic as true as possible: on April 27 this year, The British International Group babcock announced that it had won the bid for a four-year maintenance, upgrade and modernization contract for Atlantic; On 27 July, British Aerospace Systems announced that it had won a five-year contract to equip Atlantic with Artisan radar and DNA2 Combat Management System (CMS) and provide lifelong maintenance.
In addition, the Brazilian military research department also plans to replace manned fixed-wing aircraft with carrier-based fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles to make up for the lack of conventional fixed-wing aircraft that cannot take off and land on the Atlantic.
However, as some defense experts have pointed out, the Atlantic's slow speed, weak battlefield protection capabilities, and the inability to take off and land conventional fixed-wing aircraft cannot be repaired in any way.
Although there have been people who have been blowing the wind since 2020 that Brazil intends to find a successor to the São Paulo in the international market, Brazil only has the operational experience of the catapult conventional aircraft carrier, while the active catapult conventional aircraft carrier is only one Fujian ship that China has just entered service, and the second-hand aircraft carrier market is empty and cannot be bought.
As for the new ship, whether it is a hull, ship-based equipment or a carrier-based aircraft, it is likely that it will need "exclusive ordering", or even transnational support, in order to match Brazil's aircraft carrier operation capabilities. However, this path is expensive and requires sufficient national economic strength to support it. Therefore, if the Brazilian Navy really wants to regain its aircraft carrier and truly re-enter the list of "countries with aircraft carriers", I am afraid that there is still a lot of way to go.
Written by / Tao Short Room (Columnist)
Editor / He Rui
Proofreader / Liu Jun