The institution dates back to the installation of the Arsenal of Rio de Janeiro, at the foot of the hill of St. Benedict. Created on 29 December 1763, by the governor-general of Brazil António Álvares da Cunha, 1st Count da Cunha, with the purpose of repairing ships of the Portuguese Navy. At the time, the capital of the colony was being transferred from Salvador to Rio de Janeiro, among other reasons, for a better protection of the gold that came from Minas Gerais by the Royal Road.

With the arrival of the Portuguese Royal Family in 1808, the Arsenal started to be designated as Arsenal Real da Marinha or simply as Arsenal da Corte.^[2] In 1820, its dependencies began to expand to the Ilha das Cobras. After the independence of Brazil, faced with the need to organize and operate a Navy, the activities of the Arsenal became a priority. At this stage, it started to be called as Arsenal Imperial da Marinha, better known as Arsenal de Marinha da Corte.^[3]

The nineteenth century watched the transition from sailing to steam navigation. During the so-called Mauá era, vessels were built in the shipyard in Ponta d'Areia, in Niterói.^[4] Later, with the outbreak of the Paraguayan War, vessels for the Imperial Brazilian Navy were built in shipyards in England and in the AMRJ. At the end of the conflict, Brazil had the most powerful navy in the South Atlantic.^[5] In 1938 two Arsenals coexisted: the Arsenal de Marinha das Ilha das Cobras (AMIC) and the Arsenal de Marinha do Rio de Janeiro (AMRJ).^[6]

After 1948, only the Arsenal located in Ilha das Cobras survived, assuming the designation of Arsenal de Marinha do Rio de Janeiro.^[6]

Between the construction of surface units and submarines, and the activity of maintenance of the fleet are:

• 2005 - 2009 - two dockings and a revitalization program of the aircraft carrier São Paulo;^{[citation needed]}
• 2005 - 2006 - transport of the submarine Timbira from sea to workshop, using ferries and trucks ("load-in") and realization of its Programme of General Maintenance within a much lower time than the ones on Tupi and Tamoio's PMGs (General Modernisation Programs);
• 2005 - refurbishment of gearboxes of the frigate Constituição;
• 2003 - docking of the aircraft carrier São Paulo;
• constructing the submarines Tamoio, Timbira, Tapajó and Tikuna (Tikuna's construction time was reduced in 11 months, recovering part of the delay, due to budget constraints);
• construction of the Niterói Class frigates: Independência and União;
• construction of the Inhaúma Class corvettes: Inhaúma and Jaceguai;^[7]
• Modernization Programme (ModFrag) of all Niterói class frigates.
• large repairs in Argentine submarine ARA Santa Cruz, including cutting the hull.^[8]

The AMRJ was honored by the Pan American Institute of Naval Engineering for its "contribution to the development of the Naval Engineering in the America", in 2002–2003, during the meeting in Havana, Cuba. The achievement was repeated in 2004–2005, during the meeting in Guayaquil, Ecuador.

• The first ship built on the Arsenal was the D. Sebastião, finished in 1767.
• The oldest in operation: monitor Parnaíba, finished in 1937.

• List of ships of the Brazilian Navy
• Brazilian Marine Corps
• Brazilian Naval Aviation

• Gardiner, Robert; Chumbley, Stephen & Budzbon, Przemysław, eds. (1995). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947–1995. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-132-7.
• Saunders, Stephen, ed. (2009). Jane's Fighting Ships 2009–2010 (112 ed.). Alexandria, Virginia: Jane's Information Group Inc. ISBN 978-0-7106-2888-6.

• Official website Archived 2018-06-19 at the Wayback Machine
• Base Militar Web Magazine - Databank of Brazilian Navy Warships
• Poder Naval OnLine - Everything about naval forces in the world.
• AMRJ history
• Brazilian Warships - All the warships and classes used by the Brazilian Navy
• Map of the facilities on the OpenStreetMap^{[permanent dead link]}