Exploring the Power of China’s Navy: Every Warship and Submarine Listed

Type: Offshore patrol vessel
Number of vessels: 6 (tied)

By Jennifer Geer Published Oct 28, 7:10AM EDT

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Exploring the Power of China’s Navy: Every Warship and Submarine Listed

In recent years, China has been growing its naval powers. The People’s Liberation Army Navy currently has 427 units in active service, according to the World Directory of Modern Military Warships. The fleet includes submarines, destroyers, and patrol vessels, among others. Although China is not at the top of today’s naval forces, the country has a storied history as a naval power. Few people may know that in the 1400s, China had the most powerful navy in the world with 3,500 ships, some of them much larger than any European ships being built at the same time. However, the Ming Dynasty had no desire to further China’s interests via sea, and the impressive ships were abandoned, burned, and left to rot in their ports. While today, China seeks to catch up to American and European navies. (Also check out the strongest militaries in Asia.)

24/7 Wall St. took a close look at China’s Navy to find out what makes it so formidable. To identify the ships and submarines of the People’s Liberation Army, 24/7 Wall St. referenced the military data site World Directory of Modern Military Warships’ directory of all active ships in China. The ship and submarine classes are ranked in order of the number of vessels currently in active use by the navy, according to WDMMW. Any ships on order were excluded, as are smaller patrol vessels, auxiliary/survey ships, replenishment, and historical ceremonial types. Each of these vessels serves to expand China’s naval power throughout the region, and then even further. (For a look at China’s military power in the air, check out every aircraft used by the Chinese Air Force.)