Landing Ship Tank

When we came in the Bay of Rio de Janeiro this morning for some more fuel, we passed this vessel. Looks like a kind of rocket launching installation on her bow, but actually it is ramp to put tanks on shore or beaches. Therefore is it called a LST. Her design goes back to WW-II, but then they had big doors instead of a ramp. This particular vessel is called Mattoso Maia (G28) and before the Brazilian Navy bought it, her name was USS Cayuga (LST1186), an United States Navy vessel. To be honest, I did like the surrounding of Rio more than this rather ugly navy vessel