The U.S. Navy is in trouble! China once again plays its ace, sanctioning the U.S. aircraft carrier shipyard, potentially paralyzing the U.S. aircraft carriers.
The U.S. Navy is in trouble. Now, it can't even build new aircraft carriers, and now the aircraft carrier shipyard has been sanctioned by China. In September 2025, China announced export controls on several American defense companies, including Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII).
Huntington Ingalls has two shipyards: one is Newport News Shipbuilding, and the other is Ingalls Shipbuilding. Newport News is the only nuclear-powered aircraft carrier builder in the United States, while Ingalls Shipbuilding is responsible for building various types of amphibious assault ships and nuclear submarines.
In short, Ingalls is the only shipbuilding company in the United States that has the capability to build large warships (over 10,000 tons).
Once the Chinese sanctions were issued, the existing aircraft carriers of the United States may be paralyzed due to the inability to maintain them. It should be noted that currently, Newport News' maintenance and repair capabilities for aircraft carriers are insufficient, and the U.S. aircraft carriers are still waiting in line for maintenance.
In 2019, to enhance the construction capabilities of large vessels, Ingalls imported a 70,000-ton floating dock from China. This floating dock has the capability to build the entire "America-class" amphibious assault ship, becoming one of the most critical equipment investments for the shipyard in the past five years.
However, the normal operation of this floating dock depends on the regular replacement of specialized seals, hydraulic control systems, and special steel components, which have been exclusively provided by Chinese companies for a long time.
Now, with the imposition of sanctions, Chinese companies no longer provide parts for maintenance, which could lead to the shutdown of the production lines for U.S. amphibious assault ships.
In fact, although the current American shipyards claim to use American-made equipment, many of the devices are secretly purchased from China, such as the most direct overhead cranes. Now, with the imposition of sanctions, Ingalls is embarrassed, and it's now clear which equipment parts were purchased from China, adding a "Made in USA" label.
In short, unlike the broad-based trade war, China's current sanctions target clearly, directly hitting the U.S. defense companies that touch China's core interests. This approach of "hitting the snake at the seven-inch mark" can be considered a fatal blow to the United States.
Original source: www.toutiao.com/article/1844495081084995/
Disclaimer: The article represents the views of the author.