Sleeping dragon no more: China about to replace US as strongest naval power and Washington is too late to stop it – By Russia Today Staff (Russia Today) / Dec 20 2019
China might soon shift the world naval balance and unseat the US as the modern master of the seas. The process appears to already be under way, and there is little that Washington can do about stopping it.
Visibly shaken by what it has seen on a photo showing just one of China’s military shipyards near Shanghai, the business magazine Forbes recently told its readers an alarming story about the “impressive rate” and “vast scale” of Chinese naval modernization.
Today, China Changxing island pic.twitter.com/cxVmRiMjiQ
— 龙龑之 (@Loongnaval) December 13, 2019
The shipyard in question indeed appears to be an impressive sight to behold. There, one can see a total of nine newly constructed destroyers lined along the quay and docked in an inner shipyard basin. By contrast, the entire UK Royal Navy has a total of just six similar-class vessels, Forbes notes.
As if it was not enough, the same shipyard is also building China’s newest aircraft carrier – the third in a row. The second one, called the Shandong, was commissioned by the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) earlier this week. Designed to carry 36 J-15 fighter jets, it is China’s first fully domestically produced carrier.
The one under construction at the Shanghai shipyard is expected to be even bigger and better. In particular, it will have an electromagnetic catapult – just like the US Navy’s newest carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford.
More importantly, this one shipyard is but a sneak peek into China’s real capabilities as there are “many yards across China, which are similarly impressive,” Forbes warns its readers.
Continue to article: https://www.rt.com/news/476527-chinese-navy-replace-us-strongest/
