China’s 35th Type 052D Warship Enters Service As U.S. Navy Struggles to Match Pace

China recently commissioned the 35th Type 052D-series guided-missile destroyer, the Tongchuan.

This shows Beijing’s rapid shipbuilding pace, which the U.S is struggling to match, given labour shortages, supply chain issues, and other technical and budgetary constraints.

Tongchian has been assigned to the South Sea Fleet.

It features an extended hull and a massive flight deck for Harbin Z-20F anti-submarine helicopters.

In the past decade, China has built destroyers at double the rate of American shipyards, manufacturing 35 Type 052D vessels alongside 8 Type 055 destroyers.

On the other hand, the U.S Navy attained just 18-20 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers during this same period.

The widening gap in the countries’ production capacity has worried the U.S which has fears regarding China’s global maritime dominance.

The Type 052D displaces 7,500 tons and has a 64-cell vertical launch system to fire anti-ship, anti-submarine, and land-attack cruise missiles.

However, U.S ships still hold a qualitative advantage, experts suggest, given more operational experience and technological prowess that the Chinese navy lacks.

American warships are larger at 9,800 tons and accommodate an advanced 96-cell missile inventory.

They are equipped with AN/SPY-6(V)1 radar that provides unmatched ballistic missile defence.

However, numbers are also important.

China has about 50 destroyers, with more than 40 being modern variants, enabling it to form sophisticated air-defence networks and project naval power around the contested South China Sea and Taiwan, both of which Beijing claims to be a part of its territory.

Though the U.S has a much larger fleet of approximately 77 destroyers, its forces are dispersed globally, whereas Chinese ships are concentrated in the Western Pacific.

Ultimately, the timely delivery of Tongchuan shows China’s superior shipbuilding capacity, which challenges American naval dominance, established since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.