The Brazilian Navy has commissioned Tonelero, its new Riachuelo-class submarine, and held a naming ceremony for its fourth Scorpene-derived boat, Almirante Karam.
The simultaneous ceremonies were held midway through last week at the Itaguaí Naval Complex in Rio de Janeiro and were hailed as “two milestones of the Submarine Development Programme” by the Brazilian authorities.
Almirante Karam’s base platform is the Scorpene class of diesel-electric attack submarines initially jointly developed by Naval Group and Navantia, and latterly built and marketed by Naval Group. The 70m boat is longer than her parent submarine by about 10 metres to accommodate extra batteries.
She is the third submarine in a $10 billion four-boat programme agreed in 2009 which included a technology transfer agreement (TTA) and a deal to develop a French/Brazilian nuclear powered sub.
As per the Brazilian navy’s press statement, the launch of Almirante Karam “symbolise the completion of the conventional submarine construction cycle, and inaugurate the transition to the development and construction of the Conventionally Armed Nuclear Submarine (SNCA) ‘Álvaro Alberto.’”
The Almirante Karam will now undergo a series of sea trials ahead of her scheduled commissioning, including immersion, surface navigation, and deep-sea diving tests, in addition to performance tests of its main systems and weapons deployment.
Meanwhile, the third boat in the series, Tonolero, was officially commissioned during the same ceremony last week. As per the press statement, Tonelero, which has been built in Brazil by Itaguaí Construções Navais (ICN), will join the Submarine Force after completing sea acceptance tests.
The event was attended by Brazil’s Minister of Defence José Mucio Monteiro and a host of naval, industry, and other dignitaries. He commented: “The delivery of the Tonelero submarine, as well as the launch of the Almirante Karam submarine, respectively the third and fourth of the ‘Riachuelo’ class, are concrete actions that demonstrate our unquestionable determination to equip Brazil with the most adequate capacity to defend our waters and our sovereignty.”
- You can read more details on the Brazilian Navy website