Harpoon 3 Advanced Naval Warfare is the result of decades of development and fan support, resulting in the most comprehensive, realistic, and accurate simulation of modern combined air and naval operations available to the gaming public. New features include, multiplayer support, third party databases, scenario editors, and OVER 300 pre-built scenarios!
This deals with Asia - Pacific Sea Power currently and is worth looking over for a background on the region. This might make a few people sit up and take notice:
The Economist published a story titled ‘Naval Gazing’, noting that the London-based International Institute of Strategic Studies said China now has more warships than the United States. And sure enough, accompanying the story was a graphic showing that the PLAN has edged ahead of the US Navy in terms of ‘major combatants.’
It's an interesting article, of which it's points are pretty obvious to the layman. There are two issues that it missed however. ASW and Chess.
Comparison of OrBats aside, both of these nations are severely deficient in ASW. The PLAN due to lack of modern platform, the USN because they don't practice it [never mind that at least one Chinese sub has surfaced in the middle of a formation]. Because of this, the USN would be depending on submarines to clear the ocean for their carriers to operate.
Naval warfare is alot like Chese and in that game, you have to think ahead. The problem with thinking ahead is that you are constantly having to make adjustments for the enemys actions. China likes to think ahead strategically and they follow a plan. As long as that plan is followed to their satisification then they can't hope to lose. Things don't work that way in real life however.
Something always comes up.
What might have happened if the Kriegsmarine had the time to implement their Plan Z? Four carriers, ten battleships, three battle-cruisers, eight heavy cruisers and up to 60 destroyers. But what would it have taken to stick to the plan? Definitely no Poland, which probably would have meant Soviet troops on the Eastern German Border.
Now apply that to China. Growing awareness of the population, an ever increasing middle class that will eventually need to be dealt with, a huge migratory working population, and an increasing economic prosperity will cause a shift in priorities. Ok so maybe it sounds like a Tom Clancy novel but it's true. Something will have to give eventually.
As an aside to this, the US Navy is a much more professional organization. The Chinese armed forces are a collection of hands in the same pot. Generals and Admirals are not just commanding armies, fleets, and wings, they are also economically invested in their commands running factories, construction, and other enterprises. This adds an additional dynamic to how the Chinese Armed Forces operate, which is both good and bad for the government, which is attempting to separate the two with little in the way of success. The government is dependent on the army to maintain power and attempting to remove the army's source of private income [and probably a sizable minority of the military budget] would be met with much resistance.
