Maintaining its original vocation, in the protection of the Blue Amazon
By Corvette Captain (T) Eduardo Braga dos Santos; First-Lieutenant (RM2-T) Maria Clara Medeiros do Nascimento;
First-Lieutenant (RM2-T) Ana Carmem do Nascimento Silva de Lima – Natal, RN
The Brazilian Northeast has always represented an important vector for national defense and development, both for its capacity to transform its potential into wealth, and for its geostrategic position, “leaning” over the Atlantic. In this context, the region had fundamental importance in Brazil’s participation in the largest armed conflict in history, the Second World War, when it concentrated, in 1942, in the states of Pernambuco and Rio Grande do Norte, military efforts for the creation of a Naval Command in the South Atlantic Theater of Operations.
On that occasion, in alliance with the United States of America, an operational relationship was established in anti-submarine warfare, in defense of the commercial routes that originated in and were destined for Northeastern ports. The 3rd Naval District Command (Com3ºDN), previously called Naval Command of Pernambuco and Naval Command of the Northeast, and initially located in Recife (PE), had its headquarters transferred to Natal, capital of the state of Pernambuco, in 1975, in the district of Tirol.
In 2016, as the result of a successful exchange process, the District settled in its current headquarters, a modern building located on the banks of the Potengi River, near the city’s Port Zone.
With the largest number of Federation Units in its jurisdiction, the 3rdDN has 15 Military Organizations (OM), directly subordinated, besides four Agencies and eight Ships, totaling 28 OM driven by a work force composed of more than 3,500 military and 118 civil servants, distributed among the states of Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte, Paraíba, Pernambuco and Alagoas.
The District has the largest maritime area of the Search and Rescue Service (SAR) in Brazil, with 5,293,716 km2, and also monitors a coastline with 1,430 kilometers of extension. “I am honored to take command of this great ship called the 3rd District. A powerful ship of superlative dimensions”, declared Vice-Admiral Alexander Reis Leite, the current Commander, during the swearing-in ceremony.
Subordinated Military Organizations
To carry out its mission, the District has a structure formed by Naval and Marine Resources, Naval Base, OM components of the Waterway Traffic Safety System, Naval Communications, Nautical Signaling, Supply and Finance, Health, and Education.
In the scope of operational OM, the Northeast Naval Patrol Group Command stands out. It has seven subordinate vessels and the purpose of performing maritime rescue and salvage, as well as naval patrol and inspection, in order to contribute to the safeguarding of human life and the security and control of Brazil’s interests at sea. It is also responsible for the Hyperbaric Chamber, equipment that, according to the Frigate Captain (Physician) Nelson Elias Andrade Júnior, “is the only available and possible resource for emergency treatment of diving accident victims on the extensive coast of the Com3ºDN, through oxygen therapy”.
In actions that require the projection of Naval Power on land, the Area Command has, in its structure, the Natal Marine Group (GptFNNa), which is responsible for maintaining the ability to participate in operations aimed at providing the defense of ports, bases, naval installations, and other components of Maritime Power.
The mentioned Naval and Marine Means may require maintenance, on a scheduled basis, or unforeseen repairs of an industrial nature, as well as the receipt of water, fuel, and electric power. In this scenario, the Natal Naval Base (BNN) plays an important role. “We will effectively fulfill our role as a fixed logistical point for the Navy, contributing to the continuous training of the ships of this District and of others that visit us,” says Sea Captain Carlos Eduardo Ribeiro de Macêdo, Commander of the BNN.
For this whole district OM system to work in harmony, communication is fundamental. Therefore, the Navy Radio Station in Natal plays a relevant role in conducting the use of Naval Communications in the area, ensuring the application of the fundamental requirements of trust, security, speed, flexibility, and integration.
So far, it is possible to see that, due to the activities presented here, a Naval District has a dynamic that involves the need for efficient and effective logistics. In this perspective, it is up to the Navy Logistics Center in Natal to execute the procurement and supply management activities, in order to contribute to the readiness of the Force’s resources.
The 3rd Naval Command also has two of the four Apprentice-Marine Schools (EAM) in Brazil, located in the capitals of Pernambuco and Ceará, whose purpose is to train Sailors for the Army’s professional staff, ensuring that the students receive intellectual, physical, psychological, moral, and naval-military preparation. Many of the non-commissioned officers, sergeants, corporals and sailors who work in this jurisdiction bring, in their accumulated knowledge, the learning initiated in the MAS of this Area Command.
The Brazilian Navy considers its personnel as its greatest asset, for without the participation of the human component, the district mission would be compromised. The Naval Hospitals, located in Natal (RN) and Recife (PE), contribute to the good health of the crews of the OM that are part of the 3rd DN, so that all are ready for service, besides attending to the Naval Family.
With the purpose of implementing and operating the navigation aid signals under the responsibility of the MB, the Northeast Nautical Signalization Service (SSN-3) supervises and controls, also, the establishment and operation of the systems maintained by other public agencies or private entities, making navigation safe. The Corvette Captain Almir Pimentel Machado Neto, Commander of SSN-3, highlights that “the area of jurisdiction of the 3rd DN has 68 nautical aids, having, among them, the first and the second largest lighthouses in Brazil, located in Fortaleza (CE) and Touros (RN)”.
The Brazilian Navy is responsible, as subsidiary attributions, for guiding and controlling the Merchant Marine and its correlated activities, as far as national defense is concerned, and for providing the security of waterway navigation, inspecting the compliance of laws and regulations, in coordination with other organs of the Executive Branch. Such activities are executed by the Port Captaincies and Agencies existing in the five States of jurisdiction, which total nine OM.
The Frigate Captain Jorge Henrique da Mota Gomes de Souza, Port Captain of Rio Grande do Norte, when talking about these attributions, mentioned that the “importance is configured, mainly, by the promotion of the Professional Maritime Education, with the formation of future crew members of vessels, which also increases the awareness process regarding the ways to avoid pollution in our jurisdictional waters”.
Contribution to the Navy’s Mission
The mission of the Brazilian Navy, as established by law, consists of “preparing and employing Naval Power, in order to contribute to the defense of the Homeland; to guarantee the constitutional powers and, by initiative of any of these, law and order; to fulfill subsidiary attributions established by law; and to support Foreign Policy.
In this context, with regards to Homeland Defense, in addition to patrolling Brazilian Jurisdictional Waters, the 3rd Command executes, through the BNN, the maintenance of the Scientific Station of the São Pedro and São Paulo Archipelago, which guarantees the permanent habitability of the Archipelago, located 1100 kilometers (km) from the coast of Rio Grande do Norte, which allows the country to establish an Exclusive Economic Zone of 450,000 km2 and exercise sovereignty over this space.
The 3rd Naval District acted to guarantee the voting and counting in order to guarantee the security and free access of the electors to the election sites in Aquiraz (CE).
In relation to the Assurance of Law and Order, besides having participated in real situations, the Natal Marine Group conducts continuous training, in order to raise the level of readiness to execute operations of this nature.
Regarding subsidiary activities, specifically with regards to providing the safety of waterway navigation and monitoring compliance with laws and regulations, at sea and inland waters of the jurisdiction, during the “Summer” Operation 2022-2023, more than 25,000 inspections of vessels were carried out, representing an increase of approximately 70% in relation to the previous operation, resulting in 706 notifications and 55 apprehensions. In parallel, the Maritime Professional Education delivered, in 2022, to the jurisdiction of the Com3ºDN, a work force of 3,476 new and updated professionals, through the Aquatic Training Courses.
In the field of Foreign Policy, Brazil’s participation in the concert of nations is of great importance in the field of International Relations. As explained by Frigate Captain Marcio Jorge dos Santos, Commander of the Ocean Patrol Vessel (NPaOc) “Araguari”, the presence of Brazil in the Multinational Exercise “Obangame Express 2023”, through the NPaOc “Araguari”, “enables the national Naval Force and African countries of the South Atlantic for the coordination of actions against crimes such as piracy, kidnapping of people, arms and drugs trafficking, illegal fishing, besides the promotion of social actions and support to Foreign Policy, through the strengthening of institutional ties with the participating countries.
The importance of oceanic islands
With the consolidation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which ensures the establishment of the Territorial Sea and Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) within 200 miles of each oceanic island, the archipelagos guarantee the country exclusivity to explore, conserve and manage their respective natural resources, which are of considerable economic importance to the Brazilian nation. Within the jurisdiction of the Com3ºDN, the Archipelago of Fernando de Noronha and the Atol das Rocas Biological Reserve, as well as the Archipelago of São Pedro and São Paulo, stand out.
Formed by small rocky islands located in the northern hemisphere, about 1,000 kilometers from the coast of Potiguar, the Archipelago of São Pedro and São Paulo (ASPSP) originated from the emersion of the mantle of the submarine floor thousands of years ago. A unique formation in the world, it is endowed with diversified marine resources and has a strategic geographic position in the Atlantic Ocean, besides being a privileged region for the development of research with relevant technical-scientific, socio-economic, and environmental impacts, through the São Pedro and São Paulo Archipelago Program. Because of these characteristics, the ASPSP is of special interest to the academic and scientific community and to Brazilian society in general. The increase of the EEZ around the Archipelago is equivalent to an area corresponding to the size of the states of Rio Grande do Norte, Paraíba, Pernambuco and Alagoas.
Relationship with Society
Civic-Social Actions (ACiSo) represent a set of temporary, episodic, or programmed activities of assistance and aid to communities, promoting civic and community spirit among citizens, in the country or abroad, developed by military organizations. Among the ACiSo carried out in the jurisdiction, the one that stands out is the one that took place in 2022, in the Fernando de Noronha archipelago, which included the provision of dental and medical procedures in eleven specialties, as well as complementary tests and exams, totaling 2,150 consultations in four days.
Another socially important action is Operation Smile Brazil, a volunteer medical organization dedicated to bringing together professionals to operate, free of charge, on citizens with cleft lip and cleft palate. The 3rd Command integrates the project with logistical support of transportation and personnel, involving subordinate OMs from Ceará and Rio Grande do Norte. In the state of Rio Grande do Norte, this action takes place in the city of Mossoró, whose last edition, which occurred in the period from January 16 to 24, 2023, accounted for 1,200 attendances.
Navy Radio Station Natal
For ten years, Radio Marinha Natal (RMN) has been broadcasting public utility content and improving the knowledge of society about the activities developed by the Naval Force. It is one of the six stations that make up the national radio system of the Brazilian Navy.
With the slogan “Radio Marinha FM: navigating the radio waves”, the vehicle has a quality repertoire and diversified programming: daily news with the main information from Brazil and the world, as well as informative programs and spots. Petty Officer Carla Alexandra Silva Xavier, who has been working as an announcer for RMN for three years, reports that “it is a reason for pride to be part of the Navy Radio System and to be able to contribute to the dissemination of information to the population of the state of Rio Grande do Norte. Still according to SO Carla, “wherever we go, it is possible to observe positive repercussions regarding the musical grid”.