The problem is exacerbated by the U.S. Navy’s global mission set, requiring it to send submarines everywhere.
While this stat is alarming, including the sub fleets of allies like Japan and South Korea shifts the balance of power back away to an America-led coalition.
In the next 10 years, China will have more submarines than the U.S. Navy, as that country continues to both grow and upgrade its undersea fighting force. The U.S. will have 66 subs of all types by 2030, compared to China’s projected 76. But while the Navy’s submarine fleet will be the third largest in the world, after China and North Korea, raw numbers don’t quite tell the whole story.
December 13, 2020: In November Iran presented its new warship, the Shahid Roudaki. Not exactly a warship but a RO-RO (Roll on-Roll Off) freighter thought to be a ship named Galaxy F that was built in 1992 and until recently operated in the Mediterranean, Persian Gulf and Atlantic. RO-RO means the ship has ramps that make it easy for vehicles to get on or off the spacious deck and spaces below the deck. The 150 meter (452 foot) long and 22 meters wide Galaxy F/ Shahid Roudaki can carry up to 536 cargo containers in the hold and on deck. This ship is elderly by commercial shipping standards and Iran could have bought it cheap, gave it a new paint job and filled a deck with various types of rockets, air-defense systems and UAVs, plus one elderly (1970s vintage) Bell 412 helicopter.