Submarines are essential for navies as a result of they supply stealthy, strategic capabilities for surveillance, deterrence, and offensive operations in underwater environments.
This graphic, through Visible Capitalist’s Bruno Venditti, reveals the highest 12 nations by their variety of navy submarines as of July 2024, based mostly on information from GlobalFirepower.com.
Russia Has the Largest Fleet
Russia ranks first with 65 submarines, adopted by the U.S. (64) and China (61).
Mixed, the three nations account for 40% of the worldwide fleet.
With regards to know-how, nevertheless, the U.S. is forward.
In response to Admiral Samuel Paparo, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, U.S. submarine know-how is one era, or 10 to twenty years, forward of counterparts like China.
The most recent addition to the U.S. Navy, the Columbia-class nuclear submarine, is essentially the most subtle vessel of its type. It’s stealthy and geared up with 16 missile tubes.
The American fleet additionally has the Seawolf class, designed to handle the specter of Soviet ballistic missile submarines and change the ageing Los Angeles class of submarines.
Throughout the Eighties, a fleet of 29 submarines was to be constructed, which was lowered to 12. With the top of the Chilly Warfare and every submarine costing about $3 billion, this system was lowered to solely three models.
Among the many Russian fleet, the Sierra II Class, also called Undertaking 945A Kondor Class, stays some of the costly and deep-diving submarines. These vessels have been explicitly developed for search and destroy missions in opposition to U.S. nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines.
In the event you appreciated this put up, try Mapped: The World’s Largest Armies in 2024. This graphic reveals the highest 10 nations by navy personnel as of Could 2024.