Is China's Navy Larger Than America's?

Understanding Asia-Pacific Sea Power -- The Diplomat

In this first in a series on the region’s navies, The Diplomat looks at how to measure naval power—including the US and China’s.

It's a sobering thought that even analysts steeped in naval affairs disagree about how to tally up who exactly has the strongest fleet. Writing in the Washington Post last month, Robert Kaplan declared in passing that China had constructed ‘the world's second-largest naval service, after only the United States.’

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My Comment: An excellent review on Asia-Pacific sea power. Read it all.

How To Build A Navy

Chinese Navy destroyer Qingdao (DDG 113)

From New Wars:

Strategypage reveals how China is now the world’s largest shipbuilder, proving she has what it takes to potentially create a world class Navy:

Sooner than anyone expected, China has surpassed South Korea as the world’s largest shipbuilder. Currently, Chinese firms have orders for 54.96 million CGT of ships, compared to 53.63 million CGT. Thus China has 34.7 percent of the world market. Since 2000, South Korea has had the largest share of the world shipbuilding market. South Korea took the lead from Japan…

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My Comment: New Wars has been blogging a storm of late with many informative and interesting posts. I have always been a fan of his blog (a daily visit has become a requirement), but the work that he is producing now is truly excellent and informative to the lay person like myself. The readers who comment on his blog are also informative, and should be read also. His blog is here.