Why does Brazil have a navy complete with Submarines

Taking a longer view, both the sub and their shore side nuke plant operate on a pressurized water cycle. The waste from which will be stored in a big swimming pool.

The waste includes plutonium, which is relatively easy to separate through chemical extraction. No huge centrifuges needed. So, say, 10 or 20 years from now if nuclear weapons technology proliferates, and Brazil suddenly faces a nuclear armed rival, they can come up with an answer relatively quickly. All without raising the ire of anyone right now.

International politics is dirty and nasty.

Huh !
You poor fool,its pretty evident to anybody with more then half a brain cell that the Vatican is and has been planning for many years to invade the rest of the Italian peninsula and then THE WORLD .

The SWISS GUARD has a visible presence of eight men (one elderly )and a dog,but out of the eyes of the media there are two thousand highly trained Special Forces,forty thousand airborne troops and also …
Ooops sorry,I was completely wasting your time there.
I was of course talking about the Salvation Army.

To fend off an irredentist [and completely psychotic] Portugal, should a wave of ultranationalism and militarism ever sweep that country…? That could be a very funny scenario, actually.

Actually, not from here it wouldn’t: Portugal might well invoke the Treaty of Windsor.

But Brazil stands a good chance of being a world superpower in several decades’ time. And navies take decades to develop.

You know, it’s stuff like diplomatic treaties from the fourteenth century that blow Americans’ minds… that really is remarkable, and thanks for the education!

Brazil is always thought of as being on the cusp of superpower status, and it never quite seems to reach it. I remember Gateway (1976) by Frederick Pohl and World’s Fair 1992 (1963) by Robert Silverberg both referred to Brazil as a world power roughly on par with the U.S. and Soviet Union.

Not to mention L. Sprague de Camp and his Viagens Interplanetarias stories.

Actually, subs are a good choice for a less powerful country’s navy. Capital ships take a lot of money and require a large fleet of escorts. Submarines operate on their own and their ability to hide underwater makes them good survivors in contested waters. That’s why you see countries like Germany in WWII or China during the Cold War building subs - they allow you to have an active naval presense without competing directly with the naval superpowers.

If need be, they can be utilized to protect convoys of exported goods (or imported for that matter).

:confused:

Considering how much of Brazil is on water, & how much water there is, I would find it a bit neglectful not to have a serious navy.