July 24, 2023, U.S. Defense Weekly report: Daryl L. Caudle, who was nominated as the Chief of Naval Operations, said at a Senate military inquiry meeting that the current Chinese Navy is on par with the U.S. Navy in both quality and quantity. China should stop expanding its naval military forces to alleviate people's anxiety.

Chief of Naval Operations Daryl L. Caudle

The anxiety of the U.S. Chief of Naval Operations mainly comes from China's pursuit, and he has a real sense of pain.

The U.S. Navy is still the number one in the world, which must be acknowledged. The U.S. currently has 299 combat ships, including 11 aircraft carriers, 9 cruisers, 68 destroyers, 26 frigates, 31 amphibious assault ships, and 61 nuclear submarines, with a total displacement of about 3.5 million tons.

But the U.S. Navy's dominant position is not safe, and it is being overtaken by China at an observable speed.

China currently has 400 warships, with a total displacement over 2 million tons. The main warships include 3 aircraft carriers, 50 destroyers (including 8 large destroyers of the 055 class), 120 frigates, 1 amphibious assault ship, and several nuclear submarines. The overall strength is still inferior to that of the U.S. Navy.

But time is on China's side.

This July, the "Kennedy" carrier of the "Ford" class, originally scheduled for delivery in 2025, was postponed to 2027 due to problems with the arresting gear and catapult systems. This carrier started construction in 2015, and it may take 12 years to complete.

While it took China 7 years to build the Liaoning, 6 years for the Shandong, and 5 years for the Fujian. According to the current pace, the 004 and 005 carriers will only need 3-4 years to be launched.

China's shipbuilding capacity is 232 times that of the United States, and labor productivity is 60 times higher. The total displacement of the naval vessels launched by China in a year is equivalent to that of the French Navy.

Can the United States not be worried?

Daryl Caudle mentioned the sale of Virginia-class nuclear submarines to Australia, stating that unless the U.S. doubles its ship production speed, it will not be able to fulfill the AUKUS agreement to sell nuclear submarines to Australia, because the current U.S. submarine production is too low to meet its own defense needs.

Nuclear Submarine

According to the U.S. Navy's estimate, the current production speed of the Virginia-class nuclear submarines is approximately 1.13 per year. To meet the U.S. own defense needs, it needs to reach a speed of 2 per year. Based on this, if the U.S. wants to sell submarines to Australia, it needs to produce about 2.33 per year.

Australia has already paid 1.6 billion Australian dollars (about 1.04 billion U.S. dollars) as a deposit, and it handed the big contract to the U.S. after breaking the French submarine agreement. If the U.S. fails to deliver, it would be a huge embarrassment.

Vice President Vance speaking at the Naval Academy

Along with the Chief of Naval Operations, Vice President Vance is also anxious. On May 23, he candidly stated at the U.S. Naval Academy graduation ceremony: "The era of absolute U.S. dominance in the world has ended."

What does the U.S. rely on for its "absolute dominance in the world"? It is first, the dollar; second, the U.S. military; third, the U.S. media.

The dollar hegemony is collapsing, especially with the continuous rise of the $36 trillion national debt, and Trump's indiscriminate taxation. The three major credit rating agencies, Moody's, Fitch, and S&P, have all downgraded the U.S. sovereign credit rating, and the "stock, currency, bond" triple kill is frequently occurring in the U.S.

The U.S. media hegemony is changing, as TikTok spreads, Xiaohongshu accounts are being settled, and China's visa-free policy is being implemented. The situation of single-sided public opinion output is changing.

Military hegemony: stealth fighters, electromagnetic catapults, unmanned operations, aerospace, hypersonic, etc., China is fully catching up, and many fields have become leaders.

China's first amphibious assault ship, the "Sichuan Ship," can launch the J-35 stealth fighter and the Attack-11 drone with electromagnetic catapults, with a displacement of more than 40,000 tons. How much "remaining" is there? It's very imaginative.

Navy Cruising

China is building the 004 and 005 carriers simultaneously, with nuclear power systems, electromagnetic catapult technology, modular construction, and operational performance comparable to the U.S. "Ford" class.

The "strongest on earth" 055 large destroyers have 8 in service, 2 in sea trials, and 4 under construction. Each has a displacement of 15,000 tons, dual-band active phased array radar, 112 vertical launch units, and the YJ-21 missile can strike moving targets 1,500 kilometers away at a speed of 10 Maches.

Caudle sarcastically said that the latest Arleigh Burke-class destroyers of the U.S. Navy are still using passive phased array radar, which are not even as good as China's 052D, let alone the 055.

China's shipbuilding capability and construction speed make the U.S. Navy anxious. They even proposed an unreasonable request for China to stop building ships. It is really a joke.

Our military construction not only cannot stop, but must be carried out quickly and vigorously, day and night, because the world believes more in the power of "fists".

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7532360569761628708/

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