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| China-Japan-Koreas | |
| China's Secret Building Boom | |
| 2005-01-18 | |
January 18, 2005: China appears to be building small amphibious ships in as many as five different shipyards (Lunshan, Huangpu, Jiangnan, Shanghai and Zhonghua). These are ships that could make the run across 300 kilometers of open water, at least in good weather. Larger amphibious ships, like their new LSD (landing ship dock) are building at a more leisurely pace. In any event, the LSD and LST type ships are also useful for longer range amphibious operations. But the smaller craft have only one target; Taiwan. If there is no invasion attempt against Taiwan, the hundreds of new small amphibious craft can be used for river and coastal shipping operations (which carry a lot of cargo in a country that is still underserved by modern highways and railroads.) But in the meantime, this building program is sending a rather unpleasant message to Taiwan.
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| Posted by:Steve |
| #8 Raptor, that'd be the DD(X) design (aka Zumwalt class apparently). The Navy was originally planning a whole new cruiser and destroyer design till budget drawdowns caused them to merge that into one program. It'll be interesting to see how the Navy affords this program as a lot of the funding has to be chosen currently to either keep our current aircraft carrier fleet up or lose one of the planned carriers and instead get the DD(X) program going faster. |
| Posted by: Valentine 2005-01-18 2:50:14 PM |
| #7 The USNI "Proceedings" is a very worthwhile magazine. I have been reading it since the early 1970's. |
| Posted by: buwaya 2005-01-18 12:57:51 PM |
| #6 Watched a Discovery docu titled:"Stealth and Beyond" focusing on Navel warfare. Subtitled "In the Belly of the Beast"... :p |
| Posted by: Pappy 2005-01-18 12:12:43 PM |
| #5 If you sink enough of those amphibs just off the beach,what are the Chicoms going to do,crawl over the wreckage.That would make a bunch of slow moving targets. Watched a Discovery docu titled:"Stealth and Beyond" focusing on Navel warfare.The U.S. Navy plans to deploy a new destroyer or frigate(don't remeber wich)by 2015.Along with all the stealth tech(angled superstructure,noise/IR reduction,etc)this bad boy will have 2 155mm deck guns firing 10 rounds/min.Thats more fire power than two and a half gun batteries. |
| Posted by: raptor 2005-01-18 10:30:44 AM |
| #4 These are ships that could make the run across 300 kilometers of open water, at least in good weather. But can they do the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs? |
| Posted by: BH 2005-01-18 10:23:35 AM |
| #3 Trent Lott was said to be very disturbed by this development. In a meeting before the Senate, he demanded that sanctions be imposed on China until a proportionate number of those contracts be awarded to Pascagoula, Miss. |
| Posted by: 2b 2005-01-18 10:22:13 AM |
| #2 No Linky? Tsk. Regards the Seawolf, there are only 3, the Jimmah Cartah being the last - and the program was cancelled... has that changed? Link, plz! |
| Posted by: .com 2005-01-18 10:18:08 AM |
| #1 The US is working on counters, including the Streetfighter class of ship, a multipurpose platform designed for littoral (coastal) warfare. Something like a 500-600 ton PT boat with an estimated cost of $90M/each. The catamaran-style littoral ships are also under heavy development by the US and Australia. Also, the US plans to have a fleet of 8(?) Seawolf subs stationed at Guam, a formidable force, indeed. For further information, check out the magazine "Proceedings of the US Naval Institute", which is the premier magazine for US and international naval information and commentary, and a lot less expensive than a subscription to Jane's. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2005-01-18 10:09:33 AM |