evidence: China possesses the biggest navy in the world by number of hulls, the U.S. Defense Department confirmed in its latest report on Beijing’s armed forces. The People’s Liberation Army Navy has 355 front-line ships in three fleets arrayed along the Chinese coast. The U.S. Navy, by contrast, has 305 front-line ships, divided roughly 60-40 between the Pacific and Atlantic Fleets. [...] As long as the U.S. naval establishment agrees with McGrath’s sentiment, it might continue to prefer a fleet structure that emphasizes large displacements over numerous hulls. Even if that means that, from a certain perspective, the U.S. fleet ends up looking smaller than the Chinese fleet.