China's navy has grown into the largest in the world by number of ships, with the U.S. Department of Defense reporting that it had more than 370 battle-force platforms in 2024. The U.S. Navy, by contrast, has 291 battle-force ships as of 2026. The disparity reflects a decline in the size of the American fleet that has been decades in the making.
The gap marks a dramatic reversal from the final years of the Cold War, when the U.S. Navy operated 594 active ships in 1987 amid the Reagan administration's push for a 600-ship fleet. Nearly four decades on, America's naval numbers have fallen by more than half, even as Washington tries to maintain its presence across the Indo-Pacific.
