Intriguing "cruiser" hype
Before and after the launch of the "10,000-ton drive", all kinds of purposeless speculation in the Western world have never stopped. Taking the reaction of the US media as an example, it not only set aside a separate chapter in last year's "China Military Strength Report" to talk about the so-called "055 cruiser", but also listed it as "one of the five major weapons that China has changed the military landscape", "New Americans" said that it can "shoot down satellites", and "generations of Americans will face a warship that dwarfs all ships for the first time". The most exaggerated thing is that after the launch of the 055 first ship, more American media called the 055 "China's dreadnought" - "dreadnought" is synonymous with "revolutionary warship", when it appeared in Britain in 1907, overnight all the battleships in the world at that time were outdated. The taste of this killing is very obvious. You know, although the launch of the 055 is a sign that our army has caught up with the world's most advanced level in the field of large surface combat ships, the ship is not groundbreaking, revolutionary, and epoch-making in terms of the overall technical level in the world. 10,000-ton displacement, a versatile vertical launch system, and a monolith mast have been realized in recent years on the latest destroyers in countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States. The combat style displayed by the big drive and the combat mission it will carry in the future are still within the scope of the world's existing maritime combat methods. Does the Western media know nothing about this? The answer is clearly not. In fact, not only is the "dreadnought" argument nonsense, but the "cruiser" argument is even more far-fetched. As a matter of common sense, since entering the era of missiles, the difference between cruisers and destroyers is no longer obvious, whether in terms of tonnage, armament configuration, targeting the enemy situation or fleet position are constantly narrowing the difference, in practical applications there have been many overlapping functions. Especially after the Kirov class and the Long Beach class, both the United States and the Soviet Union realized that instead of large cruisers, the functions of cruisers should be split into aircraft carriers and destroyers. This is not only cheap and flexible, but also the overall effectiveness of the fleet is better. Therefore, all this makes the combat effectiveness of large destroyers continue to increase, while cruisers stagnate, and the gap between the two is getting smaller and smaller. Today, a type of destroyer can no longer be called a so-called "cruiser" because of its large tonnage. A prime example of this is the Americans' own DDG-1000 Zumwalt class, a giant ship with a full load displacement of more than 13,000 tons and a tonnage far more than the Ticonderoga class, but the U.S. Navy still classifies it as a "destroyer" rather than a "cruiser." So, what is the Western world's stubborn purpose in calling the 055 a "cruiser"? Is it just a fight for the eyeballs?
The intention behind the Western world's vigorous hype of the "10,000-ton drive" is undoubtedly very intriguing. In this regard, Li Li, a military expert at the National Defense University, made it clear in the "Today's Concern" program that the hype of the 055 ship should be the necessary conditions for the US military to seek funding for new equipment. In addition, the establishment of a "strong imaginary enemy" is also a consideration for the future deployment of the US military in the Asia-Pacific region. In this way, the purpose of the Western media to call 055 "dreadnought" and "cruiser" rather than a destroyer is obvious: compared with the title of "destroyer", the titles of "cruiser" and "dreadnought" are obviously more offensive and threatening. This actually involves the old so-called "China threat theory" problem. But should we justify this? The answer is clearly no. The development of China's military strength has attracted the attention of the world, and with a little development, the theory of China threat will appear. So, after our national navy has really developed and really has the combat capability of the far seas, will it have an impact on some relevant countries? This is actually a question of whether the power will pose a threat to others after reaching a certain level. The threat should be in two ways: one is ability, and the other is willingness. If you don't have this ability, you naturally can't form a threat, but if you don't have the ability, you can't guarantee it yourself, so it is illogical to use your ability not to develop it to not threaten others, and there is no country in the world to take such a countermeasure. Moreover, the most important factor in determining whether a country's military development is threatening compared to capability is willingness. Whether or not to reap benefits through the threat of force depends on what kind of national defense policy the country implements, what the country's strategic objectives are, and what are the main means on which the country relies to achieve its development and achieve its goals. In terms of national defense policy, China has always emphasized the implementation of a defensive national defense policy, and will not take the initiative to provoke conflicts and wars, let alone take the initiative to threaten and attack others. China's development of military power is used to escort economic construction and the realization of the "Chinese Dream". Military conquest and military threats have never been a means to achieve their strategic objectives. From this perspective, the world should take a reassuring pill at the development of the Chinese Navy's ocean-going combat capabilities. The development of China's ocean-going combat capabilities not only does not pose a threat to others, but is also a reliable force for maintaining peace and stability. That is why we should not be bothered by the clamor of some countries. What's the fuss about one or a few "10,000-ton drives" in the water?
A materialized ocean-going ambition
It is undeniable that the intention of the Chinese Navy to go to the open ocean is obvious. In just 10 years, the Chinese navy's journey to the ocean has gone through four stages, the first stage is from the coast to the coast: in 2004-2006, with the increase in the service of new ships, the Chinese navy began to evolve to the coastal active defense strategy, and the three major fleets began to "wander" to the western Pacific from time to time. Although the Chinese Navy did not deploy troops to waters beyond the first island chain during this period, it strengthened its training discipline and gradually equipped it with the ability to operate in waters far from China's coastal areas. The second stage is from the coast to the Western Pacific: with the gradual increase of China's naval strength, in the period from 2007 to 2009, the three major fleets of the Chinese Navy continued to send small but high-frequency ship formations out of the island chain to conduct exercises or training with a real combat background outside the Okinawa Archipelago or in the waters east of Taiwan. Moreover, during this period of time, the "Taiwan independence" forces are gaining momentum, the Sino-Japanese "Diaoyu Dao" dispute has begun to rise, and the dispute over sovereignty in the South China Sea has also emerged, all of which have made the Chinese Navy not take it lightly in the face of mission pressure. During this period, the Chinese Navy completed its first anti-piracy deployment in the Gulf of Aden. The third phase is from the Western Pacific to Bluewater: between 2010 and 2012, as part of the development of an active coastal defense strategy, the Chinese Navy expanded its activities beyond the first island chain and even as far as the second island chain. These operations in the western Pacific have enhanced the Chinese Navy's ability to operate in unfamiliar waters and gained the logistical and command-and-control system experience needed to operate far from China's offshore waters. During this period, the types and classes of ships deployed by the Chinese Navy to the western Pacific oceans also gradually diversified, including the official commission of the first aircraft carrier "Liaoning", and the improvement and strengthening of anti-piracy deployment in the Gulf of Aden, which has been normalized and continues to this day. The fourth and latest phase is from bluewater to the world: this period began in 2013 and continues to now, with the expansion of China's overseas interests and the intensification of maritime territorial disputes, the Chinese navy has taken on more and more important responsibilities to defend overseas interests. At the same time, the Chinese Navy has also actively fulfilled its international responsibilities and obligations, and has participated in multilateral or bilateral cooperation operations such as joint escort, anti-piracy, counter-terrorism, and international humanitarian search and rescue on dozens of occasions, including the annual "joint maritime" exercise with the Russian Navy, the "Rim of the Pacific Military Exercise" organized by the US military, the friendly joint exercise with neighboring countries, and several sea training sessions after the "Liaoning" warship entered service. The above actions have urged the pace of oceanization of the Chinese Navy, and also promoted the acceleration of the pace of construction at the material level of the Chinese Navy's ocean-going fleet - the emergence of the "10,000-ton drive" is a good illustration.
Objective understanding of the "10,000-ton drive"
The emergence of the "10,000-ton drive" not only confirms the depth and solidity of the previous series of technological accumulations, represents a series of major breakthroughs in cutting-edge key technologies, highlights the ambition of the Chinese Navy to go to the ocean and become an ocean-going strike force, and to some extent, it has also become a materialized carrier of national rejuvenation pride. Even a defense ministry spokesman used rare language at a press conference to describe the "10,000-ton drive" that had just been launched. However, even so, we still have to have an objective and sober understanding of the "10,000-ton drive" that has just been launched - talking about "overtaking in curves" is actually a very dangerous mentality. On the one hand, as mentioned above, the ship is not groundbreaking, revolutionary, or epoch-making in terms of technical level in the world, especially in the application of key technologies such as power and integrated all-electric propulsion system, there is still a big gap with advanced countries. Its design concept and future combat mission are still within the scope of the world's existing maritime combat methods, and they do not jump out of the traditional thinking. On the other hand, the 055's batch entry into service in the near future may mark a solid step forward in China's pace of building an ocean-going navy, but after all, it cannot suddenly change the reality of a huge gap between naval strength and strategic needs. For example, in terms of the macro system, the U.S. Navy's Naval Coordinated Engagement Capability (CEC) system platform, which has been built since the 1990s, has evolved to the point where it has derived the Naval Integrated Fire Control Air Defense (NIFC-CA), and the super-horizontal line interception capability that breaks the traditional mode of engagement is the most dazzling part of this platform. The multiplier capacity of this system is the gap between the Chinese and AMERICAN navies that should be most worthy of attention. Obviously, the gap in this system cannot be bridged by the Continental Navy simply by serving a combat ship with an advanced platform. Although the excellent platform of 055 provides us with a good opportunity to build an excellent system and narrow the gap between the Future Sino-US Navies, on the whole, we are still in a state of chasing rather than catching up on the road of building an ocean-going navy. This not only means that the current 055 is far from an ideal "target ship", but also means that China still has a long way to go on the road of building a complete ocean-going naval system.
epilogue
Once 052C and 052D destroyer debut, Western naval analysts were greatly impressed by it, "China Aegis" has become a proud business card of the Chinese Navy, and now the larger, more advanced performance of the new destroyer has given the world a new understanding of the Chinese Navy, as this by Western naval analysts called "dreadnought" giant ships have been launched, a powerful Chinese ocean-going naval fleet is slowly coming to us.