China has the world's largest navy by number of ships and submarines.
Notes on verification
Confirmed by multiple independent sources tracing to Pentagon annual reports; consistent across 2020-2024 editions showing China's ship/submarine count exceeding the US Navy's. Caveat: metric counts total ships/submarines, not tonnage or capability, where US retains advantages (carriers, blue-water power).
Sources
- Secretary of Defense Speech at RAND (As Delivered) (defense.gov)
- https://www.19fortyfive.com/2024/12/chinas-navy-6-aircraft-carriers-and-370-warships-by-2030/ (19fortyfive.com)
- https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2023/10/pentagon-assesses-the-pla-navys-modernization-and-growing-aggression/ (navalnews.com)
- https://news.usni.org/2021/11/03/china-has-worlds-largest-navy-with-355-ships-and-counting-says-pentagon (news.usni.org)