Adm. James Stavridis (USN, ret) On China’s New Carrier, The Korean Crisis, and “The Leader’s Bookshelf.”

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Hugh Hewitt Show:

Hugh Hewitt

April 26 2017

 

Admiral James Stavridis, former Supreme Allied Commander in Europe and of Southern Command, currently head of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and author of The Leader’s Bookshelf paid a return visit to the program this morning as news of China’s launch of its first built-from-scratch aircraft carrier made news:

 

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HH: Then we’re going to get a copy of that, and we’ll do a deep dive on The Leader’s Bookshelf. Last week, the day after you were on, Admiral McRaven came on to talk about his new book, Make the Bed. And he said whatever Jim Stavridis tells you to do, you do it. So I’ve got to read the book, and so it’s a definite…and it’s blurbed by Stanley McChrystal, who came to the studio once and spent three hours with me in the most transfixing three hours I think I’ve ever had in the studio talking about his book, Team of Teams, and his memoir. So I’m glad when the military guys go out and actually write the book. Usually, you’re too busy to set out and do books. You’ve got lots of boards to sit on, etc. So I appreciate you taking the time to do that book, and we will get The Leader’s Bookshelf, and we’ll come back and talk about that. But I have news of the day to discuss with you, number one being China has launched its first home-built aircraft carrier. Now from the perspective of someone who had to deal with their submarines, you were telling me you were an anti-submarine officer in your first assignment, what do you make of China building aircraft carriers?

 

JS: First of all, it’s a tribute to what the U.S. has been able to do projecting power with its aircraft carriers for 50 years, really, since the end of the Second World War. We’ve been the dominant actor in that space. China’s been watching. Secondly, it is their attempt to provide real sea control and power projection in their littoral waters around China in the South China Sea. And thirdly, it’s a natural evolution for them in terms of the advancing capability of their military. They want to demonstrate that. When you put those three things together, not surprising, and we ought to be mindful that there’ll be more carriers where this first one comes from.

 

HH: They have their old one that they rebuilt off the Soviet hull, so this is number two. What are their pilot capacity? I don’t believe there’s any navy in the world that can do nighttime carrier operations except ours. Do they aim for that, do you think?

 

JS: They absolutely aim for that. And their jets are, I call them 70% of the capability of the U.S. fifth-generation fighters, which is what we’re operating on the decks of our nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. That’s another big limitation for them. This is not a nuclear carrier, so it’s going to need to be refueled. It’ll have limitations logistically. But in terms of the ability to project power around China’s littoral, and above all, Hugh, they want to dominate the South China Sea, because they claim it as territorial seas. It’s a perfect platform for that.

 

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Adm. James Stavridis USN (Ret.) on “The Leader’s Bookshelf”

Hugh Hewitt

May 11 2017

 

Audio

 

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