Is China's Navy 'Larger' Than America's? | The National Interest
On paper, yes, but quality and ship type matter a whole more than just quantity. You may have heard recently that China’s People Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) is rapidly outstripping the U.S. Navy with its larger battle force. Or if you read a different stripe of commentary, that the U.S. Navy’s mighty warships collectively out-mass its rival across the Pacific by more than two to one. Both claims are true but can mislead when presented without context. There are several different ways to calculate the size of a fleet, each of which offers its own insights.
Source: nationalinterest.org