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There have been many attempts by naval scholars and other authorities to classify world navies, including; Michael Morris,<ref name="classification">{{cite book|title=Small Navies: Strategy and Policy for Small Navies in War and Peace (Dr Deborah Sanders, Dr Ian Speller, Professor Michael Mulqueen)|date=28 June 2014|publisher=Ashgate Publishing|location=United Kingdom|isbn=9781472417619|pages=34–43}}<!--|access-date=15 December 2015--></ref> British naval historians Eric Grove<ref name=classification/> and Professor Geoffrey Till,<ref name=classification/><ref>{{cite book|last1=Till|first1=Geoffrey|title=Seapower: A Guide for the Twenty-First Century|date=2 Aug 2004|publisher=Routledge|location=London|isbn=9781135756789|pages=113–120|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CNgIbiDghI4C&q=Seapower%3A%20A%20Guide%20for%20the%20Twenty-First%20Century%202004|access-date=15 December 2015}}</ref> French strategist Hervé Coutau-Bégarie<ref name=classification/><ref>Hervé Coutau-Bégarie, ''Traité de stratégie'', (Economica: Paris 2002). pp 617-621</ref> and professors Daniel Todd and Michael Lindberg.<ref name=classification/><ref name="Lindberg-classification"/><ref name=Kirchberger/> All identify basic common criteria for gauging the capability of navies, such as; total displacement and number of ships; modernity and power of weapons and systems; logistical and geographic reach with capacity for sustained operations; and the professional qualifications/disposition of sailors.<ref name=classification/>
[[File:Carriers Cavour (550) - Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) and Charles de Gaulle (R91) underway in 2013.JPG|thumb|left|{{ship|Italian aircraft carrier|Cavour|C 550|2}} (foreground) operating with {{USS|Harry S. Truman|CVN-75|2}} (middle) and {{ship|French aircraft carrier|Charles de Gaulle|R91|2}} (background) in the [[Gulf of Oman]], 2013 ]]
The table below shows the world naval hierarchy according to the classification system by professors Daniel Todd and Michael Lindberg.<ref name=Kirchberger/> Their system originates from 1996<ref name="Lindberg-classification"/> and outlines ten ranks, distinguished by capability. Since then it has been used by various other experts to illustrate the subject.<ref name=Kirchberger/><ref name="Howarth2006">{{cite book|last1=Howarth|first1=Peter|title=China's Rising Sea Power: The PLA Navy's Submarine Challenge|date=18 April 2006|publisher=Routledge|location=London|isbn=9781134203956|pages=179}}<!--|access-date=3 December 2015--></ref> According to Todd and Lindberg, a "blue-water navy" is one that can project any sort of power beyond its own territorial waters.<ref name=Kirchberger/><ref name=Howarth2006/> However they used the principle of [[Loss of Strength Gradient|loss of strength gradient]] and other criteria to distinguish navies by capability under the four "blue-water" ranks.<ref name=Kirchberger/><ref name=Howarth2006/> The six ranks of "Non blue-water navies" can be further broken down into "green-water" and "brown-water navies", and according to Todd and Lindberg, these are navies only capable of operating as coastal defence forces, coast guards or riverine forces.<ref name=Kirchberger/><ref name=Howarth2006/>
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{{update|date=March 2023}}
[[File:Aircraft Carrier Liaoning CV-16.jpg|thumb|Chinese aircraft carrier ''Liaoning'']]
The [[People's Liberation Army Navy]] (PLAN) is subject to a variety of assessments regarding its capabilities. WritingChina's forambition towards blue-water capability received much attention, particularly from the [[United States Naval Institute|US Naval InstituteCongress]]<ref inname="China">Ronald 2012O'Rourke, Dr James Mulvenon believed that "theChina ChineseNaval navyModernization: isImplications stillfor primarilyU.S. aNavy brownCapabilities—Background and green-waterIssues navyfor Congress", highlightingDecember problems10, with2012, replenishmentpage 7</ref> and logistics[[United asStates keyDepartment shortcomingsof in PLAN ambitionsDefense|Department of becomingDefense]],<ref aname="US blue-waterDOD capable fleet.<refReport">{{cite bookjournal|title=China'sMilitary Energyand Strategy:Security TheDevelopments ImpactInvolving onthe BeijingPeople's MaritimeRepublic Policiesof China 2013|datejournal=2012|publisher=NavalDod: InstituteAnnual PressReport to Congress|locationdate=United States2013|isbnpages=978161251151138–39|editionurl=2012http://www.defense.gov/pubs/2013_China_Report_FINAL.pdf|pagesaccess-date=1–9 (Part 1) }}<!2014-11-10|accessarchive-date=3 December 2015-01->13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150113120816/http://www.defense.gov/pubs/2013_china_report_final.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> Thiswith lineboth ofacknowledging thinkingthat hasChina's alsoprimary beenaim heldwas byto aproject numberpower ofin academicsthe throughout[[Island thechain years,strategy|First includingand DrSecond Peterisland Howarth,chains]].<ref name="Howarth2006US DOD Report"/><ref>{{cite bookjournal |last1=HowarthO'Rourke |first1=Peter Ronald|title=China's RisingNaval Sea PowerModernization: TheImplications PLAfor U.S. Navy's SubmarineCapabilities—Background Challengeand Issues for Congress|datejournal=18Congressional AprilResearch 2006Service|publisherdate=Routledge22 January 2020|locationurl=London|isbn=9781134203956|pages=179https://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL33153.pdf}}<!--|access-date=3 December 2015--></ref> ProfessorIn Timoa Kivimäki2013 report to Congress,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kivimäki|first1=Timo|title=Wardefense Orexperts Peacealso inasserted that over the Southcoming decades, China Sea?|date=2002|publisher=NIASwould Press|location=Denmark|isbn=9788791114014|pages=65–66|edition=Issuegain 45}}the capability to project power across the globe – similar to Britain's 1982 [[Falklands War]].<!--|access-dateref name=3"US DecemberDOD 2015--><Report"/ref> DrIn addition, there were those who thought China already had a blue-water navy, such as British naval historian and professor DennyGeoffrey RoyTill,<ref name="Routledge">{{cite book|last1=RoyTill|first1=DennyGeoffrey|title=China'sNaval ForeignModernisation in South-East Asia: Nature, Causes and RelationsConsequences|date=115 JanuaryAugust 19982013|publisher=Rowman & LittlefieldRoutledge|location=UnitedLondon States|isbn=9780847690138978-1135953942|pagespage=112–113267}}<!--|access-date=316 DecemberMarch 2015--></ref> and also, Professor BartDavid DesseinShambaugh who believed that the PLAN had transitioned from a green-water navy to that of a "limited" blue-water navy.<ref>{{cite book|last1=DesseinShambaugh|first1=BartDavid|title=Interpreting China as a Regional andGoes Global Power: NationalismThe andPartial Historical Consciousness in World PoliticsPower|date=2618 NovJanuary 20142013|publisher=PalgraveOxford MacmillanUniversity Press|location= United Kingdom|isbn=97811374503029780199323692|pagepages=175289–290}}<!--|access-date=3 December 2015--></ref> According to Todd and Lindberg's classification system, the PLAN was a rank four "regional power projection navy".<ref name="Lindberg-classification"/><ref name=Kirchberger/>
China's ambition towards blue-water capability received much attention, particularly from the [[United States Congress]]<ref name="China">Ronald O'Rourke, "China Naval Modernization: Implications for U.S. Navy Capabilities—Background and Issues for Congress", December 10, 2012, page 7</ref> and [[United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense]],<ref name="US DOD Report">{{cite journal|title=Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2013|journal=Dod: Annual Report to Congress|date=2013|pages=38–39|url=http://www.defense.gov/pubs/2013_China_Report_FINAL.pdf|access-date=2014-11-10|archive-date=2015-01-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150113120816/http://www.defense.gov/pubs/2013_china_report_final.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> with both acknowledging that China's primary aim was to project power in the [[Island chain strategy|First and Second island chains]].<ref name="US DOD Report"/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=O'Rourke |first1= Ronald|title=China Naval Modernization: Implications for U.S. Navy Capabilities—Background and Issues for Congress|journal=Congressional Research Service|date=22 January 2020|url=https://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL33153.pdf}}</ref> In a 2013 report to Congress, defense experts also asserted that over the coming decades, China would gain the capability to project power across the globe – similar to Britain's 1982 [[Falklands War]].<ref name="US DOD Report"/> In addition, there were those who thought China already had a blue-water navy, such as British naval historian and professor Geoffrey Till,<ref name="Routledge">{{cite book|last1=Till|first1=Geoffrey|title=Naval Modernisation in South-East Asia: Nature, Causes and Consequences|date=15 August 2013|publisher=Routledge|location=London |isbn=978-1135953942|page=267}}<!--|access-date=16 March 2015--></ref> and also, Professor David Shambaugh who believed that the PLAN had transitioned from a green-water navy to that of a "limited" blue-water navy.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Shambaugh|first1=David|title=China Goes Global: The Partial Power|date=18 January 2013|publisher=Oxford University Press|location= United Kingdom|isbn=9780199323692|pages=289–290}}<!--|access-date=3 December 2015--></ref> According to Todd and Lindberg's classification system, the PLAN was a rank four "regional power projection navy".<ref name="Lindberg-classification"/><ref name=Kirchberger/>
Since 2008, the PLAN has conducted anti-piracy missions in the [[Gulf of Aden]] on a [[People's Liberation Army Navy#2008 anti-piracy operations|continuous basis]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Peter A. Dutton & Ryan D. Martinson|title=NWC China Maritime Studies 13: Beyond the Wall Chinese far sea operations|date=13 May 2015|publisher=Naval War College|location=United States|page=33|url=https://www.usnwc.edu/getattachment/667e7ff9-b1e4-46cb-b709-555d151d5c3f/WEB_CMS13.pdf.aspx|access-date=3 December 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160110023343/https://www.usnwc.edu/getattachment/667e7ff9-b1e4-46cb-b709-555d151d5c3f/WEB_CMS13.pdf.aspx|archive-date=10 January 2016}}</ref>
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