Oh, I haven't heard about these in Brazilian news.
That's a nice find.
Some interesting points:
* This was the last Brazilian ship sunk during WWII
* Brazil was an US ally, providing raw materials, but mainly rubber after Asia trade routes were suspended by the Japanese
* If Brazil didn't become an US ally, there was a plan to invade the rubber producing area - known as Plan Rubber [1] - it was not necessary since Brazil joined the allies
* To warm up Brazilians public reception to a US partnership even Disney got involved (and Carmen Miranda!) creating the character Zé Carioca [2]
* Brazil sent 25k+ troops to the Italy front
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[1] Plan Rubber - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plan_Rubber
[2] Zé Carioca - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Carioca
> * Brazil sent 25k+ troops to the Italy front
The Smoking Snakes!
As part of that they had pilots flying P-47s.
I understand the rationing of gasoline in the US during the war was intended to conserve rubber, not (just) gasoline. Eventually synthetic rubber became available but this took a while and was a huge effort.
> Brazil was an US ally
The Brazilian government was a dictatorship closely aligned with Italy. The Brazilian society was closely aligned with the US.
At the moment that ship sank, you could replace US with Italy and that phrase would be about as true. That ship was basically the last drop that made Brazil push the government into breaking ties with Italy.
And yeah, shortly after that Brazil participated on the taking of Italy.
It seems to lie on the continental shelf, at a depth of abount 40 meters. Surprised it took so long to locate.
I think it is mostly because it wasn't being looked for. WWII is not as present in Brazilian mainstream culture as it is in the US, for example.
WII U boat? I didn't really Nintendo had a navy.