In January this year, Tonga, a Pacific island country, experienced a major volcanic eruption. However, what impressed the Americans was not the volcanic eruption, but the rescue operation of the Chinese Navy. The Chinese Navy sent the amphibious dock landing ship and other transportation fleets to Tonga to transport a large number of rescue materials. When talking about this operation, a senior official from the US Marine Corps expressed in an undisguised "envious" tone: "China has done it, but the United States has not done it. This will be a huge psychological blow to the Marine Corps."
The most important reason why the Wuzhishan amphibious ship, which participated in this rescue operation, has attracted much attention from the US military. It is that this type of ship is the first 10,000-ton amphibious dock landing ship built by China. According to public information, the Wuzhishan boat is 210 meters long and 28 meters wide, with a full load displacement of 18,500 tons. It can carry various landing craft , armored combat vehicle and carrier-based helicopter , and has certain guard defense functions. Therefore, from the perspective of performance, this type of ship represents the top level of Chinese Navy amphibious landing equipment.
As we all know, the biggest thing about amphibious landing ship is that it can use transport equipment to open up battlefields in the depths of the enemy. At present, the research and development level of the United States' amphibious landing combat equipment is still in the world's leading position. Taking the US "Hornet"-class amphibious landing ship as an example, the full load displacement reached 40,000 tons. But an indisputable fact is that China's amphibious landing combat equipment research and development level has reached the world's first-class level. There are 8 active Type 071 landing ships, including the Wuzhishan, and the number of related ships is still increasing. However, the US is currently facing an embarrassing situation of being inconsistent with the rise and fall of the other side, China has begun to gain a leading advantage.
Due to high military expenditures, the US Navy has to retire at least four amphibious dock landing ships in the fiscal year 2024. By then, the number of large US amphibious ships will be reduced to 24. According to an article published in the US Defense News magazine, this move will have serious consequences for the US Marine Corps, and the Marine Corps relies on the warship will face an embarrassing situation of being incompetent. It is reported that the US Navy has spent four years to completely repair an amphibious landing ship with a budget of nearly $100 million. In response, the U.S. Navy said it would rather retire than continue repairs. It is certain that this situation not only occurs in amphibious landing ships, but also in other types of surface ships .
In fact, a basic fact reflected behind the Chinese ship rescue incident is that the Chinese Navy is developing rapidly, while the US Navy is constantly declining. U.S. Navy Secretary of Operations delivered a speech at the annual meeting of the US Navy Ship, saying that the US Navy has spent a lot of money to develop new ships in pursuit of advanced conditions, resulting in a series of unrealistic failed projects. As a result, the US Navy has lacked the necessary maintenance funds, and the high R&D funds have also been wasted. Under the influence of global combat philosophy, the US Navy's technological leadership route is likely to not change in the short term. The result is that the U.S. Navy has to face the fact that resource consumption has declined.
The rescue operation of the "Wuzhishan" did indeed bring psychological impact to the US military. As Lieutenant General David Ferness, deputy commander of the US Marine Warfare, said: "We did not respond, but China did it. This message is a huge morale and psychological blow." The implication is that the US Marine Corps needs more advanced ships, but unfortunately, there seems to be no other way except facing the embarrassing situation of no ship available.
