What is the world's ranking?, Chinese Navy Strength China | Global | Strength

The United States 323.9, China 319.8

Recently, the well-known US military website "World Modern Military Warship List" released the 2023 Global Navy Strength Ranking. The list states that the strength index of the Chinese Navy has reached 98.7% of that of the US Navy, ranking second.

The website "World Modern Warship List" states that this ranking mainly refers to numerical values related to naval combat effectiveness, and forms a naval strength index calculation formula based on the number of frontline combat ships, service time, modernization level, logistics support, and attack and defense capabilities to evaluate the naval strength of various countries.

Screenshot of the list released by the World Modern Naval Ship List website

In recent years, with the improvement of comprehensive national strength, China has sharpened its sword for decades and achieved thick accumulation and thin development. Almost every year, it has achieved new breakthroughs in major military technology, and even caught up in many fields. But as the saying goes, "30 years for the army, 50 years for the air force, and 100 years for the navy.". Is the naval strength of China and the United States almost on par as stated in the above report? What is the actual strength of the Chinese Navy?

Several military experts said in an interview with the Governor of Chang'an Street that this list is promoting the "China threat theory" in a seemingly professional way, and China needs to maintain a clear understanding of itself.

One sided data

According to the number of ships published on the website, the US Navy currently has 11 aircraft carriers, 68 submarines, 22 cruisers, 70 destroyers, 21 coastal battleships, 8 mine battleships, 10 coastal patrol ships, and 33 large amphibious vessels, totaling 243 active combat vessels.

The Chinese Navy currently has 3 aircraft carriers, 72 submarines, 48 destroyers, 71 frigates, 44 light frigates, 49 mine warships, 127 nearshore patrol ships, and 11 large amphibious vessels, totaling 425 main combat vessels.

Surprisingly, the Chinese Navy has 182 more ships than the United States? Originally, this so-called list had hidden secrets. The note on the list stated that when evaluating the number of ships, ships that had not yet been in service were also included in the calculation.

"This so-called ranking only lists some physical data, but does not elaborate on the application data that plays an important role in actual combat." Military expert Du Wenlong said that aircraft carriers have a prominent strategic position in combat operations, and the United States has an absolute advantage in terms of quantity. Although the number of US submarines is slightly smaller than China, they are all nuclear submarines, and China also has a large number of conventional power submarines.

At the same time, the United States has completely cancelled its frigates, while China currently has a large number of frigates in existence. According to Du Wenlong's analysis, if indicators such as the number of overseas bases and combat experience are taken into consideration, there is a significant gap between the data reflected in the above form and actual combat capabilities.

In addition to unilaterally listing data, there is another loophole in the above statistics.

Military expert Zhang Junshe pointed out that the tonnage is also a very important indicator for measuring a country's naval strength, which is directly linked to the weapons and equipment carried by ships. All 11 aircraft carriers in the United States are in the 100000 ton class, while China's two active aircraft carriers are only 50-60000 tons, which is also among the top in the world, but there is indeed a gap between them and the United States.

The website stated that the US Navy is planning to build up to 65 ships in the next 10 years, including destroyers, aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines, and amphibious vessels, in order to catch up with China's "global competitor" in shipbuilding speed.

The difference in naval strength between China and the United States is well known by the US, but now it is presenting carefully crafted data in an attempt to establish a strong opponent, and the calculation behind it is self-evident.

The purpose of supporting and killing

"From a military perspective, such a list is not of high value. If there is a purpose, it should be using this seemingly professional method to promote the 'China threat theory'. Zhang Junshe interpreted the above list as a compliment to China, and the US regarded the Chinese navy as a target, a hypothetical enemy, to further create anxiety on a global scale, mislead the international community, and strengthen its military power.".

The Governor of Chang'an Street noticed that just at the end of last month, the US Senate had just approved the draft defense budget for the fiscal year 2024.

According to Reuters, the defense budget for fiscal year 2024 is expected to account for 3.2% of the US GDP, the highest proportion in peacetime. Of the $886 billion defense budget, the budget allocated to the US Department of Defense accounts for $842 billion.

The 2024 Defense Budget Application Summary released by the US Department of Defense shows that military spending in the fiscal year will focus on accelerating weapon and equipment upgrades and investing in emerging key technologies.

According to the federal budgeting process in the United States, the next step is for both houses of Congress to discuss the final version of the bill, which will then be submitted to President Biden for signature. In fiscal years 2022 and 2023, the actual appropriations from the US Congress were $27.2 billion and $43 billion higher than the budget applications from the Department of Defense, respectively. Analysts believe that given the current political atmosphere in the United States, Congress is likely to continue its previous approach.

The global naval power ranking that appears at this time may provide some evidence for the increase in military budget.

"Establishing a strong opponent can help the US Indo Pacific strategic maritime competition, demand more funds, strive for more projects, and achieve a complete transformation of the US Navy." Du Wenlong pointed out that the US Navy is focusing on distributed maritime operations as its core, but there is a significant gap between traditional combat equipment and distributed maritime operations. Therefore, the US is attempting to further realize the application of intelligent unmanned system technology in the military, revealing its growing military hegemony.

"First tier team"

"Because China has more warships and stronger combat capabilities, the United States believes that China wants to compete with it, but in fact, China does not want to engage in strategic competition." Zhang Junshe said that in the face of rankings published by Western think tanks and professional websites, on the one hand, we need to maintain a clear mind, but it cannot be denied that over the past decade, with the improvement of the country's economic strength and technological level, the Chinese navy has indeed made significant progress.

On April 23, 2021, the Hainan ship, as the first ship of a new type of amphibious attack ship independently developed by China, officially entered the People's Navy. Subsequently, the Guangxi ship and the Anhui ship successively appeared, and in less than two years, three Type 075 amphibious assault ships were put into service, gradually forming combat and support capabilities.

Along with the growth of equipment, it is also accompanied by the large-scale and ocean going development of the Chinese Navy.

In April of this year, China's latest 0.55 million ton high displacement Xianyang ship untied its cables and set sail, just over three years after the first Type 055 destroyer, Nanchang, was officially launched into the People's Navy.

China's latest 0.55 million ton high displacement Xianyang ship, hull number 108. According to statistics, the total displacement of newly commissioned vessels of the People's Navy in 2022 reached 120000 tons, which is equivalent to one-third of the total tonnage of the French Navy in terms of tonnage alone.

So, what is the global level of China's naval strength? Du Wenlong said that we can be considered to have entered the world's top tier.

"The development speed of the Chinese Navy in recent years has indeed been very fast, which is also the result of long-term accumulation. Whether it is the construction of large ships, the installation and updating of shipborne equipment, or the selection of weapons and equipment for joint operations of the entire fleet, all belong to huge projects. Du Wenlong believes that every progress is a sign of national strength progress. Without a strong country, there will be no strong navy.".

The number of ships reflects the progress of the entire military production system.

Du Wenlong stated that China's current performance in independent innovation in defense and military industry is outstanding, and the transformation of the navy has achieved leapfrog development through continuous fission and aggregation. Following the current trajectory, the Chinese navy can go further and make more contributions in coastal defense, ocean defense, and other aspects.

Of course, besides the comparison of equipment strength, there is also a slight difference between the Chinese Navy and the US military. As the guardian of global maritime security, the Chinese Navy actively participates in maritime activities and missions such as formation escort and medical visits, which is in stark contrast to the US Navy's military bases and their underlying missions spread throughout the world.