German media: Overconfident Trump is repeating the mistakes of the German Emperor (pursuing giant warships) from the past

The Süddeutsche Zeitung focused on Trump's plan to build giant warships, and believes this may be to deal with competitors, and that this president may "be making a mistake that Emperor Wilhelm II has already made."

The Süddeutsche Zeitung published an article on December 23 titled "Trump May Be Making a Mistake That Emperor Wilhelm II Paid a Heavy Price For," stating that Trump's plan to build giant warships to deal with competitors "may be a mistake."

The commentary first recalled the history of Emperor Wilhelm II at the beginning of the 20th century who challenged Britain's naval supremacy and began building giant warships, and pointed out that "the irony of history is that these super weapons were almost never actually used."

Author Tomas Avenarius then mentioned that President Trump has now announced the construction of "Trump-class" giant warships, larger, longer, and faster than the current U.S. standard destroyers, in order to deal with potential conflicts in the Indo-Pacific region.

"Trump seems to have understood the crux of the problem. Because the potential enemies of future naval battles in the United States will not be Venezuela…"

The commentary then stated that if, as many strategic analysts believe, conflicts between the United States and rising rivals are inevitable, the outcome of this conflict will be decided in the Indo-Pacific region. On this almost boundless ocean, warfare will rely on ships, aircraft, and missiles. "But the question is whether the (giant) vessels that Trump is building are appropriate. U.S. military experts have called for building smaller vessels, so that the Marines and other assault forces can be quickly deployed, allowing them to land on islands. Or build advanced mother ships capable of independent operations controlled by artificial intelligence."

At the end of the commentary, the author said, "Perhaps overconfident Trump is repeating the mistakes of the German Emperor (pursuing giant warships) from the past, and the Emperor paid a heavy price for it."

Original: toutiao.com/article/1852348911198409/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author."