“...Should We Be Afraid of China’s New Aircraft Carrier?...”
No more than we were of the Akagi and her sister ships. They have be residing at the bottom of the Pacific ever since the US Navy sent them to Davy Jone’s locker for all time. If China wants to re-enact that event, come get some. We’re game.
We were lucky that day.
But do we have the leadership of a Nimitz, a Spruance, a Halsey and others of the greatest generation?
Remember who is in charge right now and what his track record is.
Akagi had only one sister. Both were caught on the builder's ways by the 1922 earthquake, and the sister fell off her slipway and was irretrievably damaged and had to be broken up. Both were to have been battlecruisers in the successor class to the Kongos, but Akagi, like USS Lexington and Saratoga, was converted to a large aircraft carrier.