How strong is the South China Sea Fleet?Measured by four Type 055 large destroyers and an aircraft carrier group, what are the odds of victory if it clashes with the U.S. Seventh Fleet?
Against the backdrop of the increasingly close naval strength of China and the United States, the South China Sea Fleet, as the first of China's three main fleets, has become the number one fleet force in Asia. Since the creation of the South China Sea Fleet and the East China Sea Fleet, the U.S. Seventh Fleet has been the main imaginary enemy of China's southeast coast.
At that time, the U.S. Seventh Fleet had aircraft carriers, submarines, cruisers and other equipment, while the Chinese Navy at that time was far inferior to its opponents in terms of hard power. In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Seventh Fleet was an impenetrable barrier across the Taiwan Strait. However, decades have passed, and the Chinese People's Navy has undergone earth-shaking changes.
Currently, the South China Sea Fleet has the Shandong, one of China's two major aircraft carriers, and four Type 055 large destroyers. These two pieces of equipment alone are enough to leave the North Sea Fleet and the East China Sea Fleet in the dust. It is worth mentioning that China currently has only eight Type 055 destroyers, while the South China Sea Fleet occupies half of the country. In addition, in order to ensure that the South China Sea Fleet has a strong amphibious combat capability, the Navy has also equipped it with a Type 075 amphibious assault ship and 14 guided missile destroyers as support.
Among them, the number of extremely advanced Type 052D destroyers is as high as nine. Of course, the Type 094 nuclear submarine is also the standard configuration of the South China Sea Fleet. In addition to these capital ships, there are also Type 054A frigates, Type 071 dock landing ships, etc. In the face of the large and efficient formations of the South China Sea Fleet, the other fleets were almost overshadowed. Today's South China Sea Fleet is not only capable of easily dealing with the Seventh Fleet, but also has the power to fight a war on a global scale.
What are the odds of victory against the US Seventh Fleet?
In the eyes of the Chinese, the Seventh Fleet is a very familiar existence. Earlier known as the Pacific Fleet, its headquarters was located in the port of Yokosuka, Japan, not in the continental United States.
The Seventh Fleet is part of the ocean-going fleet and the core of U.S. maritime power in the Asia-Pacific region. Its huge establishment of 60 ships, including aircraft carriers, has 350 carrier-based aircraft of different types such as the Hornet and F35B, and the total number of the fleet reaches 60,000, while the total number of China's South China Sea Fleet before was about 80,000.
Among the more than 60 warships under the Seventh Fleet, most advanced warships include the most advanced warships such as the Blue Ridge amphibious command ship, the USS Reagan, the Ticonderoga-class cruisers, and the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. In recent years, the Seventh Fleet has seen little change in its size and ship assortment, but its large configuration is still extremely luxurious.
With such luxurious equipment, the Seventh Fleet shoulders a more onerous strategic mission, especially at a time when US hegemony is gradually withering. According to the US side, the Seventh Fleet's active area covers the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea, and is stationed in Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Singapore and other countries. Its theater of operations covers an area of more than 100 million square kilometers, several times the size of the continental United States and its territorial waters. In the minds of the Chinese people, the Seventh Fleet has a bad reputation, which has directly affected the process of China's reunification and posed a threat to China's sovereignty and sovereignty.
Looking back at the crisis in the Taiwan Strait in those years, how did China's navy face the threat of the Seventh Fleet?
During the Taiwan Strait crisis in the 90s, the equipment of the Seventh Fleet was basically as large as it is today. And the Chinese People's Navy at that time even lacked missile destroyers in the real sense. Anti-ship missiles only solve the problem of existence or not, and they can hardly pose a threat to the Seventh Fleet in terms of quality and quantity. In the face of such a situation, the Chinese people, including the People's Navy itself, have never thought of giving up. China quickly put forward the best import demand to Russia, and introduced a batch of red earth laser-guided artillery shells as soon as possible. When there was a shortage of gunboats, the army took the initiative and carried 152 howitzers on civilian cargo ships, forming a picture that shocked the world.