US Navy Can’t Keep Up says Carlos Del Toro

According to CNN, the head of the US Navy, Carlos Del Toro, has stated that China has a significant advantage over the US navy in terms of shipbuilding capacity and fleet size, which they are using to project their power across oceans. He added that China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy could be fielding up to 400 ships in the coming years, compared to the US fleet, which currently sits at under 300 ships. Del Toro said that the US needs a larger and more modern fleet to meet the threat, but US naval shipyards cannot match the output of Chinese ones. Furthermore, he claimed that China has a numerical advantage in terms of workers due to the country being free of the restrictions, regulations, and economic pressures that affect labor in the US, and added that China uses slave labor in building their ships, which gives them a significant advantage. However, analysts express doubt about such a claim, as China has a large pool of available manpower and would not resort to using slave labor in a high-tech sector vital to its national security. Despite these challenges, Del Toro noted that the US still has an inherent advantage over China, which is its people, whom he believes are better-trained and have the ability to think more critically. The US Navy has taken steps to address the gap with China, including assigning more of its fleet to the Pacific and using newer and more capable ships in Pacific roles, according to a US Congressional Research Service report from November said CNN.