Asia vs. Europe at sea

Last week Paul Kennedy wrote an interesting little blurp in the International Herald Tribune. It poses as a historical look on the rise and fall of navies, but is basically just the latest in a recent spur of opinion on the growing inconsistency between Asian/European naval development - as the nod to Gibson's classical book on the fall of the Roman Empire reveals.

While the increasing tension over sea-lanes, oil supplies, fishing rights etc. is making a lot of countries, with China at the fore, increase their naval capabilities, European countries (including Denmark, one should add) decreases their navies. The most eye-catching example is Great Britain, who has just been overtaken by France for the first time in 250 years when it comes to the number of major surface combatants.



The rise and fall of navies - International Herald Tribune