U.S. President Donald Trump calls the vessel a new class of “battleship” graced by his own name, but China just calls the U.S. Navy’s latest concept a larger and “easier target” for its growing array of anti-ship drones and missiles.
A day after Trump’s Dec. 22 announcement at Mar-a-Lago that he had ordered the construction of a “Trump class” of possibly 20 to 25 battleships, China’s Global Times, a state media outlet, carried an interview with naval researcher Zhang Junshe stating that the type of warship envisioned by Trump would be a ripe target for China’s anti-ship weapons, including the so-called “carrier killer” DF-21D ballistic missile.
“The large size of a battleship also makes it more vulnerable and potentially an easier target, particularly when it is densely loaded with munitions,” according to Zhang, a researcher at the People’s Liberation Army Naval Military Academic Research Institute.
In the wake of the announcement, some analysts suggested the battleship proposal may ultimately be not be realistic and instead a move by Trump to jolt awake the U.S. shipbuilding industry, which lags far behind China.
The US navy is way bigger than China’s, so I would question that the US shipbuilding industry lags China. I would also recognize that contractors wanting more money spent pump articles warning us about China and saying China is outpacing us.
Like in the cold war, the ussr was constantly overhyped in capability to justify more spending.
I know China is quick building ships. I do however doubt they are anywhere near the US, no matter how many ships they are working on right now or what. I also highly doubt the US should increase yet again our navies size.