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China Arms a Container Ship | Strategic Use | First Strike | Cost Effective | Expendable (Patreon)

Published:
2025-12-29 17:23:52
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

In this episode, Sal Mercogliano — a maritime historian at Campbell University (@campbelledu) and former merchant mariner — discusses the outfitting by the Chinese of Zhongda 79 as an armed merchant cruiser and discusses its potential applications.

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Comments

Gary Guttebo

Ryan McBeth mentioned containerized missile launchers awhile back, only using barges with a frigate or some such as launch control. And China actually does it … … while we’re playing around with concepts of battleships!

Gary Guttebo

Ya know…. China recently seems bent on building a s__tload of domestic merchant vessels in the next few years, What they perhaps didn’t mention was that some might be new container ships of the somewhat smaller variety ostensibly meant for short haul routes in their neck ‘o the woods. (And perhaps Chinese container ports and rail yards near Taiwan might one day harbor hidden arsenals of missile launchers )

Steven Palmer

I agree that the cylinders next to the chaff launchers are probably the PLAN version of the "rubber duckies" available to the USN. This creates additional tracking/targeting issues. Between this and the jack up invasion barges displayed earlier this year, the PRC is telling the US "Don't even think about it." Decades ago many military experts belittled the lack of amphibious shipping in the PLAN. My thought was always don't discount their massive fishing fleet to carry infantry to Taiwan. Now throw in a dedicated amphibious force, PRC flag ro/ro's with those invasion barges and the threat is very credible.

DANA A. NICHOLS

And, proven repeatedly over the past century of their overall conduct on the world stage -- both the Chinese and Soviets -- THEY. DO. NOT. CARE.... about their own attrition in military/civilian losses over whatever their specific goal is; nor about any collateral or direct damage done in the process -- to anyone. Their "Quantity has a quality all its own..." is not just glib denial of their tech faults, it screams the same threat that their (CCP) policy does of underwriting any and all of their commerce and assets. Conquest supersedes their shareholder pleasure. Regarding 'just pulling new fleet tech out of our hat...,' what ever became of our Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) fleet?

Andrew Craig-Bennett

Sal, I think there is another explanation for this ship, which, as you say, is sitting alongside in a very public place. Thinking back almost thirty years, the PLA(N) were “bounced” into building carriers when a “patriotic billionaire” bought a part finished Russian carrier from Ukraine, had it towed to China, claiming that he wanted to convert it into a casino, and started to fit it out as a carrier at his own expense, spending a reputed US$172M, “because the PLA(N) ought to have a blue water capability including carriers”. Public opinion in China is far far more important than “experts” with no personal experience of China will ever understand, and the PLA(N) were duly embarrassed into ordering carriers. I think something similar may be happening here, with the high visibility aimed at a domestic audience, and I think this might involve not the PLA(N), not the regular merchant marine, not the Coast Guard but the “volunteer Coast Guard”.

Radioactive Jimbo

I remember concerns ~40 years ago over the scenario of Chinese freighters carrying sizable nukes being quietly scuttled at night off the West Coast. These could then be used to create militarized tsunamis against selected coastal targets. Difficult to pull off in these days of satellite tracking, though.