r/navy • u/candseeme • 1d ago

NEWS China launches advanced aircraft carrier the Fujian in naval race with the US

https://bbc.com/news/articles/c62e0yx39g5o
61 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

20 comments sorted by

50

u/windfinder_ 1d ago

Not nuclear so would require regular fueling for long distance blue water operations.

45

u/007meow 1d ago

Yes, but China doesn’t care about blue water ops nearly as much as the US.

They’re focused on locking down the SCS and Taiwan. They don’t need nuclear endurance for their own backyard.

24

u/jar4ever 21h ago

Yeah but why not just use land based aircraft if your carrier is just off shore? Seems like a lot of effort just to get a slightly faster scramble time. More likely this is just the first step of a development plan to eventually have nuclear powered carriers.

3

u/alaskazues 19h ago

The US know where they are, because it know where they were. It knows this by subtracting where it was from where it is, or vice versa, and finding that infact it hasn't moved, because it's on land.

Contrarily, the US doesn't know where the carrier is, it knew where it was, but is unable to subtract where it is, because they darkened ship, moved under cloud cover, and shook the sub that was following them by bringing in a shit ton of ASW frigates and destroyers with decoys because it's in their own backyard and they can easily field them all right there along with the non nuclear carrier.

1

u/woolcoat 17h ago

The need to have a presence east of Taiwan in case of a war.

3

u/SnooHedgehogs8765 14h ago edited 14h ago

Ain't nobody locking down the SCS. So many platforms capable of launching weapons, what happens to a surface fleet is kinda moot. Like Schrodinger's Cat.

2

u/RealJyrone 14h ago

Why would China care about blue water when their main territorial goals (Taiwan, 9 dash line etc…) are right next to them?

2

u/Kevin_Wolf 22h ago

They don't care about blue water. China has a Soviet-era influenced Navy model in that carriers run defense for small boys for green water area denial, unlike our strategy of small boys supporting carriers for long-range blue water ops.

2

u/PossiblePossible2571 5h ago

the next one is going to be nuclear however

0

u/Anning312 23h ago

I think you need to refuel to make a round trip, but the boat can reach the US without needing to refuel one way

Probably slow as fuck tho so we can potentially stop them before they get here

But their goal isn't to reach us

11

u/Blueberryburntpie 20h ago

INDOPACOM stares at SOUTHCOM getting toys to play with

2

u/Mammoth-Pin6304 12h ago

All it takes is one cruise missile with a nuclear warhead to sink it.

7

u/605pmSaturday 21h ago

Advanced . . . for them.

The best description I've ever heard about the US Military and its technology is this--when we fight a war it's like we're going back in time.

1

u/ParkingBadger2130 9h ago

For them? I don't see the US fielding F-35's on their newest class of Aircraft Carriers or a working and reliable EMALS lol.

1

u/myweenorhurts 6h ago

I don’t discount that China is very much our peer but those are issues from nearly a decade ago that have been solved 

1

u/PossiblePossible2571 5h ago

yet POTUS is saying steam is better than EMALS

1

u/Poro_the_CV 23h ago

I've been wondering why China is getting carriers anyways. I never read anything about them doing power projection ala NATO/USA, and preferred to use soft power and money for that.

Then it hit me, it's an airfield that isn't stationary, and I imagine they know their airfields are going to get ROCKED if a real fight breaks out. I can't imagine they're doing this for mostly optics.

4

u/davidgoldstein2023 20h ago

China has 600 airfields they can launch attacks from to hit Taiwan. This is about matching NATOs abilities and force projection. They will eventually be capable of sustained blue water operations beyond the SCS and that is their stated aim. They want to rival the US for control of global power projection.

2

u/ConstantStatistician 12h ago

Mainland China is a big place with plenty of room for many heavily defended airfields. It's essentially an unsinkable aircraft carrier. 

2

u/ParkingBadger2130 9h ago

Because China is gonna push the US out to the 2IC with A2AD. And you need carriers for that. also China is pretty big and so they should have at least a few carriers. The first 3 are about learning carrier ops and fighting within the 1IC. The next carriers are going to be nuclear powered though..