China’s Giant New Cruiser Matches America’s Naval Firepower
Chinese state television has broadcast the first clear, overhead view of the Chinese navy’s first Type 055 cruiser. The image confirms what foreign analysts have expected since the new cruiser began taking shape in 2014.
The Type 055 carries no fewer than 122 missiles in vertical cells — any mix of anti-air, anti-ship and land-attack models. That matches the weapons-loadout of the U.S. Navy’s Ticonderoga-class cruisers … and exceeds the armament of every other surface warship in the Pacific region.
With the Type 055, China has caught up to, or surpassed, the other Pacific powers in terms of sheer seagoing firepower per ship. But the Chinese fleet still lags behind the United States and barely exceeds Japan in the overall number of seagoing vertical missile cells, a useful shorthand for naval power.
China’s 39 modern destroyers and frigates — not counting the Type 055 — together can deploy around 1,500 cells. The U.S. Pacific Fleet’s 36 Burkes and 12 Ticonderogas together possess nearly 5,000 missile cells. Japan’s 19 modern destroyers carry around 1,000 cells, combined.