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Today's BCU is brought to you courtesy of FReeper oldngray, a 96-year young former Marine FReeper who lurks on the thread. It is always nice to meet a fellow member of the DD-214 alumnae. Please give him a warm welcome. He sent me the following request:
My query pertains to military training and morale of the troops. Not sure of your sources on this type of info but as I watch and hear of the PLAN exploits in the So China Sea it brings questions to mind about not only the quality of the officer corps and troops but also the quality and condition of the equipment at their disposal.
Obviously they have some intelligent people, evidenced by their ability to hack systems around the world but the same type of wisdom and training does not seem apparent in their interactions with presumed adversaries. They are bold and arrogant though they do not seem to learn much from their mistakes.
This is such a good request I knew I would have to make a BCU to answer it. But first, I have to make the following caveats:
1) The PRC and the PLAN were never part of my perview while I was on active duty.
2) The modern PLAN has essentially been created since I retired in 2000. I can only extrapolate what I know about our ships and operational doctrine and what I know about the Soviet/Russian Navy.
3) I do NOT currently have access to any classified information. My opinions are my own and based on Open Source information, my education, training, and experience.
People and countries do things for their reasons and not necessarily what you or I think is good or smart. The People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) was build to meet the needs and goals of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The US Navy and the PLAN are built under very different constraints and operate in very different environments.
The US military is built to fight outnumbered, far from home, and at the end of a long, and often threatened, logistics chain. Our ships and aircraft are generally larger, more capable, of higher quality construction, and higher technological sophistication.
We are a rich nation. We value people over money. This is why our people are better and more extensively trained than any other nation. The Israeli Defense Forces are a close second. We rely on allies for bases and access to port facilities to support our logistics chain. We relentlessly maintain our equipment because it has to work on short notice and far from home. This ensures that our extensively trained and valuable people aren't lost in combat or to accident because some bit of kit fails.
The PLAN is almost the reverse. It is designed to fight close to home. With a few exceptions, their ships and aircraft are smaller, shorter ranged, more numerous, and less well built and maintained. The entire 600+ ship PLAN displaces less than the eleven US nuclear aircraft carriers. Overall, the US Navy displaces about 2.5-3 times that of the PLAN. This is NOT to say that they can't or don't build good equipment or have good people. They do. They are trained differently and not to the level that the US Navy trains to. They also get less flight and underway time than we do. This shows from watching their ship driving performance in exercises.
This was glaringly displayed in the recent incident where a China Coast Guard (CCG) cutter was trying to spray a much smaller and slower Philippines Coast Guard Cutter with a high volume water jet. A PLAN guided missile destroyer cut between the two causing the CCG cutter to ram the bow of the destroyer crumpling the cutter's bow. Two CCG sailors on the bow of the cutter may have been killed in the collision. See the video on Sal Mercogliano's What's Going On With Shipping? YouTube channel here.
The newest PLAN aircraft carrier, Fujian, is listed as carrying 50-60 total aircraft, helos, and drones. It can realistically only carry about 25-30 aircraft. Because the PLAN carrier aircraft weren't designed for carrier duty and they use a ski jump launch system, they can't takeoff with a full load of fuel AND munitions. One is traded off to carry the other. The second carrier, and first built in the PRC, Shandong, is generally only seen with about 12-20 aircraft embarked.
The PLAN is very young institutionally. They are struggling to learn the lessons that the US Navy bought with blood in WW2. They have a relatively small Replenishment Force and struggle to do things like an alongside refueling. I remember doing an UNREP in the Mediterranean as Officer of the Deck (OOD). We were receiving fuel from the tanker port-side, while taking ammunition forward and stores aft by helo. All while doing 15 knots. This was in the early 80's and was considered a delicate but not very difficult operation. There is no way the PLAN could do this today.
I can't speak to the morale of the PLAN personnel. It is an all volunteer force and has been since 1949. Their annual personnel turnover is in line with that of the US Navy.
The biggest difference between the PLAN and the US Navy is the inclusion of the political commissars (Zhengwei).
Both the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) and the Soviet Navy employ(ed) political officers to ensure ideological loyalty, Party control, and morale, but their roles, authority, and integration into naval operations differ due to distinct historical, political, and operational contexts. In the PLAN, these officers are political commissars (Zhengwei), while in the Soviet Navy, they were Zampolits (deputy commanders for political affairs).
PLAN commissars are more deeply integrated into the command structure, often coequal or superior to commanders in Party matters, while Zampolits were subordinate to operational commanders post-1942. PLAN commissars have broader administrative roles (e.g., welfare, scientific education) and greater influence over strategy via Party committees, while Zampolits were more narrowly focused on ideology and surveillance, with reduced authority after 1942.
This is already getting too long so I will end it here. I hope I have adequately answered the questions. If anyone has questions or wants clarification on something, don't hesitate to ask.
WWG1WGA
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)