BBC News: China 'to increase naval power'

"Admiral Wu told Xinhua that the Chinese navy would focus on speeding up the development of large warships as part of its efforts develop an oceangoing fleet.

His comments are being interpreted as a further hint that China will soon be getting its first aircraft carrier - often considered the most vital element in any navy seeking to project power over long distances, says the BBC's defence correspondent Rob Watson."

No, China is not part of Naval War: Arctic Circle, but we develop the game engine for supporting play on the entire planet!

Ok this article reflects the though if Naval Guerilla is an oxymoron. Of course it is a debatable definition, but interesting anyway.

United States Navy is still in development stage of it Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program. I must admit I wonder what hull design they will finally decide on. Still in my opinion in terms of speed and draft it will be very hard to beat Norwegian Skjold partol craft, maybe the reason why Americans studied one of them in 2002.

New kind of engines are developed by US Navy. HTS engines are smaller, mechanically simpler, will let some ships lose roughy 200 ton and produce larger output. Could things like these be some kind of "upgrade" ingame?

This is an old but still relevant article from the end of the cold war:

Scott Shuger: The Navy we need and the one we got (some bad ocr, but it is readable)

Shuger argues that the supercarriers and even the Burke/Tico fleet of the US Navy is a very bad use of its resources. Key point:

"That's because the Navy is also loath to deploy carriers to bodies of water it considers too small - where it fears they can become trapped. Thus these two most recent U.S. naval disasters [Vincennes and Stark] clearly illustrate what we might call the paradox of the "high value unit": if a weapon is considered too valuable to lose, it is often considered too valuable to use. This is like having a couch so expensive, everyone is afraid to sit on it."

He advocated employing British-style VTOL carriers instead, and (agreeing with Hughes' Fleet Tactics) a vast buildup of smaller patrol craft (like the Skjold class) and diesel-electric subs.

Now, this is an interesting thought, and it also applies to the game Naval War (hopefully we'll never find out if he's right in real life!). What if smaller and cheaper, but high tech, units really kick the superheavyweight navy's ass? All right, you can have fun with the Nimitz and its massive airwing, but if you dare getting within 250 nm from any hostile coast some agile unit that costs a zillionth as much will sink it.

It will certainly change quite a bit about how we imagine playing the game. :)