China's Rapid Buildup of Assault Ships and Aircraft Carriers, U.S. Begins 'War of Warship Repairs' in Korea, Japan

China's Rapid Buildup of Assault Ships and Aircraft Carriers, U.S. Begins 'War of Warship Repairs' in Korea, Japan

As China and the U.S. are intensifying their naval arms race, China is rushing to rapidly build up its aircraft carriers and assault ships, while the U.S. is starting to operate Korean and Japanese shipyards for warship repairs starting next year.
Reuters reported on the 8th that the U.S. will begin piloting warship repairs at shipyards in Asian allies such as Korea and Japan starting next year, and that India's shipbuilding facilities are also being touted as a potentially valuable resource in a large-scale conflict.
Reuters reported that "aside from Japan's limited facilities that could be vulnerable to Chinese attacks, the U.S. would have to send seriously damaged warships back to Hawaii or San Diego for repairs and make longer voyages across the Pacific." "Starting next year, the U.S. will begin piloting warship repairs at shipyards in Asian allies such as Korea and Japan, and that India's shipbuilding facilities are also being touted as a potentially valuable resource in a large-scale conflict." The rapid growth of China’s warships is underway at a newly built drydock at the Changxing Island shipyard outside Shanghai, where the world’s largest amphibious assault ship has been transformed into an impressive hull ahead of its launch next year, Reuters reports, with satellite images.
The construction of China’s first Type 076 assault ship, dubbed the Yunan-class, is yet another reminder of how fast China’s military buildup is progressing, according to an analysis of satellite images.
“China is now building one of the world’s largest warships in less time than it would take a U.S. or European shipyard to repair a much smaller, older frigate or destroyer,” Reuters said of China’s warship-building capabilities, adding that “this should stoke the fears of those who believe China is now preparing for a major conflict, triggered by a deliberate invasion of Taiwan.”
Analyzing commercial satellite images, Reuters said the drydock where the new Type 076 assault ship is being built has seen dramatic new expansions to its port facilities, with Changxing Shipyard currently undergoing a third phase of expansion. Reuters reported that the Changxing Island shipyard, owned by the state-owned China State Shipbuilding Corporation, which was built in 2005, has been expanded in a very ambitious effort to build China’s third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, between 2015 and 2022, and is currently scheduled for completion in October as part of a third phase of expansion.
The London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies reported that China has overtaken the United States as the world’s largest navy with 234 ships weighing more than 1,000 tons, and that China now has more combat and logistics support vessels than the U.S. military, with 167 Chinese to 126 U.S. ships.
The U.S. has a much larger fleet of aircraft carriers and submarines than China, but tensions in the Middle East have divided it, and it faces an overtaking by China.
The U.S. has an advantage in tactical submarines, with ballistic missile variants that can go unnoticed for months, as well as smaller attack submarines carrying torpedoes and cruise missiles. The Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies analyzed images provided by the private satellite Maxar and found that the ship, measuring 263 meters long and 43 meters wide (867 by 142 feet), is slightly smaller than the USS Nimitz-class or Ford-class aircraft carriers, or China’s new Fujian-class, but larger than the new USS America-class assault ship.
Like the America-class, the new Type 076 is designed for airborne operations, carrying troops and landing craft, as well as unmanned aerial vehicles and fighter jets, and can operate catapults and helicopters to launch amphibious assaults by flooding the ship’s interior, Reuters reported.
China has launched four of the slightly smaller Type 075 ships since 2019, with two ready for combat last year and four more on order, Reuters reported. In terms of raw tonnage, the US Navy is far larger than the Chinese Navy, with the US having nearly 3 million warships weighing over 1,000 tons, while China has just over a third.
In terms of tonnage, the US has 10 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and their battle groups, all of which are larger and more powerful than the three aircraft carriers China currently has.
China’s fourth aircraft carrier, which is under construction, is expected to be nuclear-powered and will likely be much more durable.
US strategists say China is now surprisingly far ahead of the US in shipbuilding capabilities.
Reuters reported that between 2003 and 2023, China more than doubled its guided-missile destroyer fleet to 42, launching 23 new destroyers compared to 11 for the US over the past decade, and that since 2017, China has built eight guided-missile cruisers, while the US has not built any. China’s impressive naval production capacity is supported by a much larger civilian shipbuilding sector, which in 1999 accounted for only 5% of global merchant tonnage, but has now surpassed 50% and accounted for nearly 60% of new merchant ship orders last year. U.S. shipbuilding is less than 5% of global shipping, at 15-25 new merchant ships per year.