https://tass.com/society/1071159 This is how strong the propaganda is in paRussia. They think their navy is the most powerful in the world. But this, saner Russian news outlet: https://m.newsru.com/russia/31jul2019/strongest_fleet.html (Sorry, in Russian). Says Russia is not superior in any body of water it has its fleet on. Looks like Russians brains are being literally liquified by their TV sets.
Some Russians still think the SU and WP still exists, it's part of the "Grand Plan" to deceive the gullible West.
To be fair, they probably have the 3rd strongest navy. The US is obviously first, followed by the ships stationed in San Diego at any given time, and then probably Russia.
3rd strongest???...that's a bit of a stretch, with no ACCs.....and you have British & French, Chinese.
The British Navy is not that big, and it was almost trounced by Argentina. The Chinese Navy is still a complete joke.
Third would be generous and only based on the number of ballistic missile subs - a weapon type of limited use outside a tiny set of contingencies. If we are talking about strength for regular naval operations and the ability to actually carry them out - as opposed to having impressive looking ships sitting in port - then China & Japan come in second & third. They can put to sea large, modern, functional naval formations and their large ships don't need to trail tugboats behind them for the inevitable breakdown. If you wanted to mount a hypothetical large naval operation at distance from home I would trust Japan or China to get it done more easily than Russia.
No it isn't. It is big & getting bigger. It is packed full of shiny new equipment, some of it pretty good. It lacks experience, but Russia isn't doing all that well on that front either. Pleasure cruises to Syria and repeated breakdowns don't really count.
Chinese navy is getting bigger and better but it's mostly defensive in nature. Missile cruisers and ASW destroyers make up the bulk of their newest ships. They make a powerful force, but not much of an offensive punch because of their lack of modern aircraft carriers and their lack of the types of ships needed to carry out a naval invasion.
China currently has two carriers, the newest of them the largest outside the USN. it has another under construction & I doubt they will stop there - they have skipped right over the small VTOL carriers most nations go for and jumped straight to fleet carriers. China also has the second largest amphibious invasion fleet in the world. There are a half dozen 25,000 tonne amphibious warfare ships and dozens of frigate size landing ships. If we are talking amphibious invasion (and I wasn't) China is well ahead of anyone except the US. China doesn't yet have a fully developed blue water fleet, but I would back their kit to get where it needed to be in operational condition ahead of what Russia can put to sea.
I agree that China is becoming a navel force to be reckoned with. That said - this convo is mostly water under the bridge as if it ever came to a navel battle between two significant powers the deciding factor will be who runs out of anti ship missiles first as this technology has advanced much faster than the ability to defend.
Russia’s navy has a major problem - in Black Sea the navy can be rendered useless if turkey sinks a barge in straight of Bosporus. Their Baltic fleet is no match to UK, French and Norwegian navies. Navy in the Arctic is useless in the winter. On the Far East there is China, Japan, south Korea and the US. If one were to take these strategic issues into consideration then Russian navy probably wouldn’t even be sitting in top 10.
Russian Navy was defeated back in 1905 by the Japs.....their ACC is crap, and their drydock sits at the bottom. Chinos navy is crap? ....they have an ACC.)
What! That was 30 years ago and they were not prepared for the exocet. They are much better equipped now
This is a good point. All the other major naval powers can concentrate their naval power fairly easily. For Russia this is a major logistical exercise that is by no means guaranteed to be successful and would give any opposing naval powers plenty of warning. Any of the fleets you mention would get badly beaten up by their potential rivals. BTW, I should have mentioned that Russia's only carrier has been out of action since late last year and is undergoing a refit that won't be finished until 2021...if everything goes right. So, after its one and only combat deployment, during which time the ship lost the ability to launch & land aircraft, crashed several aircraft during landing and eventually broke down to the point where it needed to be towed, Russia's only carrier now needs a 2-3 year refit. Oh dear.
