The Brazilian Navy Cultural Center / Expaco Cultural da Marinha in Rio has quite a few preserved vessels, including two warships;Riachuelo was an Oberon class submarine built for the Brazilian Navy. I was looking forward to seeing her - I spend most weekends in Sydney as a volunteer guide on Onslow, and I was keen to see the differences between the two boats. There were quite a few differences in detail that appear to have originated in build - for example Onslow has an intermediate platform in the forward torpedo compartment which Riachuelo lacked, and a complete deck in the motor compartment whereas Riachuelo had only a partial deck to walk along. There were also changes introduced since construction - so it was interesting to see what the stern torpedo compartment looked like on Riachuelo, as they had been removed from the RAN boats and the space converted into the stoker’s mess. But the most significant difference is that (just like the Peruvian boat a few days ago) the Brazilian boat seemed a lot less crowded than Onslow. I'm not sure whether that is because gear has been removed from the Brazilian boat - or whether this is just another example of the Australian habit of trying to cram as much as they can into every platform they acquire (as opposed to buying something that is actually big enough to start with).The second warship was the Canon class Destroyer Escort Bauru (ex-USS McAnn). . They have a tour route that takes you through both the after and forward superstructure, as well as down to 2 deck to a couple of messdecks that they have converted to museum galleries, with numerous bilingual information panels discussing WW2 from the perspective of the Brazilian Navy, along with some models etc. Around the upper deck there is also bilingual signage on much of the equipment - although the translations are a bit rough - for example the label on the hedgehog mounted on the foc'sle called it a "Bomb-Grenade Launcher" and said it was located "at the stern of the ship". It also specified a maximum range of "10.058m" which is both very precise - and very short (possibly meant to be the lethal radius of the charge?). One thing they had on the ship which I hadn't noticed on previous ships, was a dummy 3" gun intended for training loaders.Both ships were in a good state of repair and appear to be well looked after. As well as the ships, there were a lot of other artifacts around - guns, torpedoes, a mine etc - plus a couple of armoured cars, an A-4 Skyhawk, and a helicopter (a Seahawk I think - which you could climb into the back of). There is also a gift shop with all sorts of appropriate souvenirs (hats, books, naval keyrings etc), and a cafe. Entrance into the museum is free.About 250m away from the ships was the Museu Naval - which seems to be the main Brazilian Navy Museum. This was a good museum - providing coverage from the 15th century right through to today. Lots of paintings, models, maps, artefacts etc. One interesting item they had on display was the breach mechanism from one of the 12-inch guns fitted to the Brazilian dreadnoughts. Another display that I thought was quite novel was they had a glass floor in one of the galleries with a torpedo and a mine on display under the glass, so that it gave the impression that they were under water.Anyway - I'm not a huge fan of Rio, but if you do get here, then both museums are worth a visit.
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