China Wants to Rule the Waves. Here’s How the U.S. Can Stop It.
It will take the right kind of 355-ship Navy to blunt Beijing’s goals in the South China Sea and beyond.
By James Stavridis
March 23, 2020, 8:00 PM EDT
Ready for peer competition?
Just over a century ago, in the run-up to World War I, Britain and Germany were locked in a naval arms race. Inspired by the strategic thinking of the American Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan, German Kaiser Wilhelm decided to build a huge battle fleet that could credibly challenge the dominant British on the high seas. He wanted both increased ship numbers, as well as the new “dreadnought†fast battleships. Both fleet size and technology drove the naval race. There are echoes of that competition today between the U.S. — the established global naval power — and China.
What are the key decisions coming in terms of the size of the U.S. fleet, its mixes of capability and readiness? How will those decisions be influenced by the rise of a true peer competitor over the coming decades?
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-03-24/china-s-maritime-ambitions-demand-a-more-lethal-u-s-navy
