The Five Most-Powerful Navies on the Planet

[AgentOrange]

See that was not do damn hard
& I agree USN remains the only true global navy with the Brits & French coming 2nd & 3rd

Hmmm...currently the British have zero operational carriers and either zero (or soon to be zero) fighter aircraft that are capable of operating from carriers. If we're talking about naval rankings currently, then Britain definitely drops out of the top five both in capability and numbers.

IMO, Japan should be number 2 or 3. Japan has a strong naval tradition, is very professional, and has a ton of experience from joint ops/training with the USN as well as tracking Soviet subs during the Cold War.

I'd probably rank the PLAN as 3rd or 4th. But out of all the countries mentioned (excluding the US for obvious reasons), China is the only one with the political will, military budget, and technological base to jump to a solid number 2.

Just my two yuan.

My list of top 10 navies....
10. Turkey - Growing military power


9. Taiwan - Has many old ships buy a strong numeric strength


8. South Korea - Good number of surface vessels and 12 subs too but lacks aircraft carriers, nuclear subs and lacks quality amphibious capability


7. Japan maritime self-defense force - exceptionally large for a defense force but has the quantity and quality - lacks nuclear subs and aircraft carriers


6. UK - has excellent submarine and amphibious capability but has a declining surface fleet and defense cuts


5. France - has excellent overall capabilities including nuke subs and lone nuke powered aircraft carrier and excellent amphibious capabilities - once again a country whose navy is not growing in numbers but building to replace old ships


4. INDIA - navy to watch out for - good mix of surface ships and 48 ships on order including 2 aircraft carriers under construction and many nuke subs and conventional to join the fleet - realistically the only Asian navy to match china


3. china - loads of ships in numbers - half the existing fleet obsolete - many ships under construction - has an aircraft carrier now - and building many nuke and conventional subs


2. Russia - for those of you who think Russian navy is old please think again - loads of frigates and corvettes under construction - to get 2 helicopter carriers with 2 under construction - and some of the most modern nuclear and conventional subs - but they do have obsolete equipment as well


1. USA - Undoubtedly number 1 - 11 aircraft carriers all nuclear - 70 odd Subs all nuclear - 87 destroyers and cruisers 30 odd frigates and LCS and un-matchable amphibious capabilities

Hahaha.....now the virtual war begins

This is a good list. Close to how I'd rank things but I'd put China as 4th and Russia and Japan as 2nd and 3rd respectively.

My rationale for ranking Japan ahead of China has to do with mission profile.

China aspires to be able to protect its shipping lines and needs a force capable of projecting power globally to do this as in times of conflict, China doesn't have the luxury of depending on American largesse as is the case with Japan. Therefore, how close is China to achieving that goal as of 2015? Not close at all, though it hurts my Chinese pride to say so.

On the other hand, the sole purpose (unstated of course) of the Japanese navy is to fight and defeat China in defense of its home islands. Japan is also a great trading nation but being buddies with the US has its advantages. Therefore, in a hypothetical conflict between China and Japan, the Japanese navy can muster its full strength whilst China would have to leave some naval assets behind to maintain a presence in the SCS, lest there be a banana boat revolt while the warden's away.

Obviously I'm leaving out the contribution of land based aircraft, which IMO, would be the ultimate deciding factor in any Chinese/Japanese naval duel.

 

[Steakhouse]

Indian want to be in the ranking of the top navy in the world, RN can and will defeat IN wherever the battle shall be taken place since USN always in the backdrop of RN to provide complete coverage for RN in a naval war. Indian delusional to actual believe IN capacity to defeat RN without consider the mighty USN always fight along side of USN. IN history of operating a outdated aircraft carrier with lacking of the air wing. Even IN operated a 2nd aircraft carrier sold by the RN to IN, now indian overestimate IN to defeat RN in a naval war.

 

[ashok mourya]

List of countries with warships - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Steakhouse]

List of countries with warships - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

USN and NATO Navy work together always control the sea lane no matter which part of the world.

 

[ashok mourya]

USN and NATO Navy work together always control the sea lane no matter which part of the world.

But we chinese, Indians broke there monopoly.Just remember gone are those days when usa sent warshipsto threaten us.

 

[Steakhouse]

But we chinese, Indians broke there monopoly.Just remember gone are those days when usa sent warshipsto threaten us.

As of now either IN or Plan can't take on USN-NATO navy wherever it may be.

 

[ashok mourya]

[QUORussia,eakhouse, post: 6669343, member: 162952"]As of now either IN or Plan can't take on USN-NATO navy wherever it may be.[/QUOTE]
But russia, china, India vs nato?
Is it possible?

 

[Steakhouse]

[QUORussia,eakhouse, post: 6669343, member: 162952"]As of now either IN or Plan can't take on USN-NATO navy wherever it may be.

But russia, china, India vs nato?
Is it possible?[/QUOTE]




Russia, China, India never in history have fought a war together, never was a military alliance. How would or could you compare to a well establish military alliance in the west to the none Russia, China, India military alliance? There are no criteria to compare the two.

 

[ashok mourya]

But russia, china, India vs nato?
Is it possible?

Russia, China, India never in history have fought a war together, never was a military alliance. How would or could you compare to a well establish military alliance in the west to the none Russia, China, India military alliance? There are no criteria to compare the two.[/QUOTE]
If usa , germany, Italy, japan can get together then why not Russia, India, China. ..depends on time everything is possible.....gn

 

[Shotgunner51]

Hmmm...currently the British have zero operational carriers and either zero (or soon to be zero) fighter aircraft that are capable of operating from carriers. If we're talking about naval rankings currently, then Britain definitely drops out of the top five both in capability and numbers.

IMO, Japan should be number 2 or 3. Japan has a strong naval tradition, is very professional, and has a ton of experience from joint ops/training with the USN as well as tracking Soviet subs during the Cold War.

I'd probably rank the PLAN as 3rd or 4th. But out of all the countries mentioned (excluding the US for obvious reasons), China is the only one with the political will, military budget, and technological base to jump to a solid number 2.

Just my two yuan.



This is a good list. Close to how I'd rank things but I'd put China as 4th and Russia and Japan as 2nd and 3rd respectively.

My rationale for ranking Japan ahead of China has to do with mission profile.

China aspires to be able to protect its shipping lines and needs a force capable of projecting power globally to do this as in times of conflict, China doesn't have the luxury of depending on American largesse as is the case with Japan. Therefore, how close is China to achieving that goal as of 2015? Not close at all, though it hurts my Chinese pride to say so.

On the other hand, the sole purpose (unstated of course) of the Japanese navy is to fight and defeat China in defense of its home islands. Japan is also a great trading nation but being buddies with the US has its advantages. Therefore, in a hypothetical conflict between China and Japan, the Japanese navy can muster its full strength whilst China would have to leave some naval assets behind to maintain a presence in the SCS, lest there be a banana boat revolt while the warden's away.

Obviously I'm leaving out the contribution of land based aircraft, which IMO, would be the ultimate deciding factor in any Chinese/Japanese naval duel.

Alright buddy I gonna put my two to make it four.

Now 190 armies also differ in capabilities, the difference could be huge. If you rank them I guess Brazilian army ranks higher than that of the Belgium, but if you bring in a war game scenario of Brazilian invading Belgium in 2018 then a lot other factors matter, or it just never can happen. Likewise comparing Danish army to that of French, you got a rank but they are allies.

Now back on the question about which navy is stronger, I suggest just stick to comparing their war capabilities and leave out other factors especially political influence like defense pact, ally or so. So in that sense I would say the article still give a pretty fair ranking about the weight of the navies.

USN is way too ahead in all measures to even compare, undisputedly number one.

I wouldn't disagree with you on JMSDF though, the author is too modest about it's ranking. Maybe he put more weight on offensive capability than defensive and arrive at this "weighted average" outcome. I personally would rate JMSDF no 2 for giving defensive capability a higher weight factor.

On RN, the size of it is in fact at a all-time-low, drawing down its present ranking despite of its incredible combat skills and possession of great weaponry like Type 45. The future though is optimistic after the 2 new carriers (HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales.) get inducted.

 

[Superboy]

On paper, the US navy is by far the number 1. However, actual combat could produce very different results. Take the battle of Salamis, where 200 Greek ships crushed the mighty Persian fleet of 1,200 ships.

 

[AgentOrange]

On paper, the US navy is by far the number 1. However, actual combat could produce very different results. Take the battle of Salamis, where 200 Greek ships crushed the mighty Persian fleet of 1,200 ships.

You're right. The USN's foolish retirement of their trireme fleet will be their ultimate undoing.

 

[Nexus]

Ok try again
This time give me a good reason
Why will the Royal Navy defeat us in Indian Ocean
& how do you think that PLAM Hasmonean exp than IN

There is enough dirt about both putMilitary forces so let's not make this a bashing debate

1) their nuke sub's SLBMs can hit us from anywhere in the world
2) sub's

 

[Superboy]

The mighty Spanish armada was crushed by the much smaller British navy. The mighty Persian fleet was crushed by the much smaller Greek fleet. The might Turkish fleet was crushed by the much smaller Italian fleet at the battle of Lepanto. The big Argentine cruiser General Belgrano was sunk by a British nuclear sub and cost Argentina the Falklands. These days, aircraft and subs, not ships, determine the outcome of naval battles.

 

[Steakhouse]

You're right. The USN's foolish retirement of their trireme fleet will be their ultimate undoing.

How can US nonstop operating naval fleet for over 60 yrs will be USN demise? Can you elaborated your opinion further? USN annually operated at least 6 nuclear aircraft carrier task force all over the world ocean with many naval base established in the backdrop for the USN to control the sea lane.

The mighty Spanish armada was crushed by the much smaller British navy. The mighty Persian fleet was crushed by the much smaller Greek fleet. The might Turkish fleet was crushed by the much smaller Italian fleet at the battle of Lepanto. The big Argentine cruiser General Belgrano was sunk by a British nuclear sub and cost Argentina the Falklands. These days, aircraft and subs, not ships, determine the outcome of naval battles.

US have the most aircraft, nuclear subs, and naval base around the world, I will bet on the USN against any major naval combatant outside of US led western military alliance.