From Strategy Page:
American intel estimates of Chinese naval power believe the Chinese fleet is now larger than the United States fleet of 293 major warships. The U.S. Navy still has a considerable edge in tonnage, manpower, firepower and experience.
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China plans to close all those gaps by mid-century. China is doing this by building modern ships faster and in larger quantities than the U.S. is capable of. Moreover, the Chinese build them on time and apparently under budget. China also sends those ships to sea frequently in an effort to close the crew skill gap.
…China is having fewer problems building the ships it needs for this new fleet. This became evident in 2014 as China began building, launched or put into commission over sixty vessels. From that point on the plan was to continue building at that pace into the early 2020s. The 2014 naval building plans included several aircraft carriers, 26 destroyers, 52 frigates, 20 corvettes, 85 missile armed patrol boats, 56 amphibious vessels, 42 mine warfare ships and nearly 500 auxiliary craft of which ten percent are large seagoing ships. While a lot of these new ships are to replace older, Cold War era, Russia designs, all new construction is based on Western designs and built to operate long distances from China. Naval air power is also being expanded with additional helicopters, modern fighters, missile carrying bombers and long-range UAVs. China is also building more diesel-electric submarines and continuing to perfect (get to work properly) its nuclear powered subs.
By 2020 the Chinese fleet had (in active service) two aircraft carriers, 75 subs, including seven SSBNs (nuclear ballistic missile subs), eight SSNs (nuclear attack subs), 60 SSK (non-nuclear attack subs). There are 300 surface warships including 50 destroyers, 49 frigates, 71 corvettes, 109 missile boats, 94 small ASW (anti-submarine warfare) ships and 17 gunboats. There are 75 amphibious ships including (in order of size) two LHDs, eight LPDs, 32 LSTs and 33 LSMs. There are 287 support ships including 36 mine clearing vessels, 19 oilers (for refueling ships far from a base), 30 coastal oilers, 27 fleet supply ships (for resupply at sea), six troop transports and a lot of harbor, training and medical support ships as well as intelligence collection ships, hospital ships, submarine rescue ships. The Chinese navy has also made arrangements with the operators of over fifty civilian cargo ships and ferries to make their vessels quickly available in the event of a major emergency. That comes to 743 active ships with over sixty percent combat ships and the rest support vessels. That support force is the true mark of a major high-seas fleet.
(H/T: Strategy Page)
