bdpopeye i know what u mean and understand how u made ur predictions. I am not going to rate any of the navies because i don't really believe too heavily on a "stronger military" just on the basis of equipment. When different militaries r roughly comparable in strength (numerical, technology, training), it is more important on how u use ur weapons which will be the determinate of victory. But i also acknowledge that better equipment and numerical advantage can help u out in a conflict, espeically in a Naval fight.
Anyway yeah the IN will have more CVs in teh future and Japan will continue its naval presence. But one thing i know is that China's industrial capacity far surpasses any other country in the world except for the USA. But this does not mean they r industrially weaker than the USA, infact they r pretty much abt the same and in the future possibly around 2020 it should surpass the USA. So basically what i am saying is that China and USA if needed can pump out more ships than anyone else in the world as long as they have the cash. Although as i have stated above that numbers does not necessarily convey an advantage, however numbers are a good deterrent which was employed by the British navy's strategy after Tralfagar.
And yeah i remember along time ago i sneaked into a lecture at ADFA and basically this naval captain who was giving the lecture said that "sometmes there are no such thing as the best ship. Sometimes u may get the newest and most state-of-the-art ship..... but it is full of bugs and not all things work properly. On the other hand u may get an old ship and no where near state-of-the-art....but all teh bugs have been worked out and functions without any problems and still gets the job done". He also mentioned about the crew but can't remember exactly what he said.
Anyway what do u think?
