Leaked U.S. Navy intelligence shows a growing gap in the capacity of China and the U.S. to construct naval vessels amid growing concern about Washington’s ability to stand up to Beijing in a fight, according to documents confirmed by The War Zone.
Beijing’s shipbuilders can utilize roughly 23,250,000 million tons of shipbuilding capacity versus less than 100,000 tons available in the U.S.; in other words, China can construct about 232 times more surface ships and submarines in terms of gross tonnage than the U.S., according to the slide, which circulated social media and was confirmed as authentic to The War Zone by the U.S. Navy.
Recent reports have dampened confidence in the U.S. ability to construct and maintain a Navy large enough to take on China.