[admin]

Nea sayers from the "Is this the end of a proud history of the British Royal Navy"?
thread, you may want to read this.

THE RAPID GROWTH AND MODERNIZATION OF THE CHINESE NAVY

[admin]

Originally Posted by admin

Nea sayers from the "Is this the end of a proud history of the British Royal Navy"?
thread, you may want to read this.

THE RAPID GROWTH AND MODERNIZATION OF THE CHINESE NAVY

Sorry, the link has been repaired!

[Cardinal]

Analysts have been watching these trends for years now and it's clear that a major buildup has been underway for some time. Gives new meaning to the phrase "red storm rising".

China's patience is one of its strongest assets and although an industrial/economic powerhouse it also seeks recognition as one of the foremost global players at the political and military levels. Let's hope it will act as a responsible stabilising influence at both regional and international levels ...

[Gunner]

There is no "rapid growth".

China took 17 YEARS to build their first SSBN, even using the best plans they could buy from the Russians and steal from us (not counting design time). We've had some subs that had entire careers from construction, through service and decommissioning that weren't much longer.

Their first SSN class took 8 years to build, not counting detailed design time.

They had the entire crew of a diesel/electric submarine die just a few years ago. The last time that happened to any other nation was, what, the sixties? (I'm talking a D/E boat, not a nuke).

The record for Chinese underwater operations is 31 days! Our boats do that as a warmup for REAL operations.

It would only take about three of our amphibious ships to have more lift than the entire PLAN amphib fleet combined, for goodness sake.

They don't have an Aircraft Carrier or a single blue-water amphib, so projecting power is going to be a problem.

If it weren't for direct purchases from the Russians, they wouldn't HAVE a navy, and if we and the Brits weren't robbing from our R&D and construction programs to pay for current ops, we wouldn't be having this discussion.

That said, are we (and the Brits) doing some stupid things? Yes we are.

Are the Chinese modernizing their fleet? Yes they are (they aren't stupid). There's a very real (if slight) possibility that they could end up the next global superpower. If so, we did it to ourselves, IMHO.

[STARMAN 352ND]

All i can say is i hope we are a few big steps ahead of them.
This is looking more and more like the USSR we all once knew.
JP

[Cardinal]

Originally Posted by STARMAN 352ND

All i can say is i hope we are a few big steps ahead of them.
This is looking more and more like the USSR we all once knew.
JP

I would be very hesitant to make such a comparison JP.

China and the old USSR are very different with regard to their history, culture and ideology which have given them a unique worldview that is often difficult to fathom from the 'outside' - there is a reason why they refer to themselves as "The Middle Kingdom" after all.

[Hoverbug]

Originally Posted by Cardinal

I would be very hesitant to make such a comparison JP.

China and the old USSR are very different with regard to their history, culture and ideology which have given them a unique worldview that is often difficult to fathom from the 'outside' - there is a reason why they refer to themselves as "The Middle Kingdom" after all.

China has been very smart in its defense policy. It avoided the Cold War arms escalation that doomed the Soviets, while arming itself sufficiently to make itself the dominate Asian power by a wide margin and with sufficient capability to deter any "adventurism." The Chinese Navy build up may be more of a response to increases in Indian capability than anything else. The Chinese want to make sure that if anyone is going to change the balance of power in the East, they have to go through them.

[Aircrafty]

Hey look out, it's Chinese reds under the beds these days

Hey, rather than increase spending on the UK (and US) navy and other wasteful enteprises, why don't we try and increase manufacturing in our own county(s). Soon the US, Australia etc will be the poor Agricultural people and China will be the 'advanced' country.