PLAN's Luhai DDG's range is farther than a US aircraft carrier.

[yutong chen]

The Chinese Luhai DDG have a range of 14,000 miles, while the Kitty Hawk and John F Kennedy carriers only have a range of 12000 miles

 

[Winter]

The Chinese Luhai DDG have a range of 14,000 miles, while the Kitty Hawk and John F Kennedy carriers only have a range of 12000 miles

Quite obviously, you are stating a Chinese destroyer has greater range than a quite formidable American aircraft carrier...However, I think you do not do either of them justice in comparison.

You left out one factor. The Luhai destroyer has a range of 14,000 miles at 15 knots. The Kitty Hawk and John F Kennedy carriers have a range of 12,000 miles at 20 knots. The speeds involved are not the same therefore your comparisons are not fair.

The Luhai destroyer was constructed in the 1990s with of course, the benefit of modern 1990s technology...The Kitty Hawk and John F. Kennedy carriers were constructed in the 1960s using the technology at that time.They are both as well only several years from retirement; John F. Kennedy in 2018, Kitty Hawk in 2008. You think it is something special that there is over thirty years of technological advancement between them?

The Luhai destroyer is a frontline destroyer while the US carriers are not...Range is not the factor it is to the Luhai, as US carriers are surrounded with replenishment and fleet support vessels solely for the purpose of extending the carrier's (and it's battle group) range and time of deployment...Several refuellings are therefore not a major consideration.

Last of all, the Kitty Hawk and John F Kennedy carriers make up only two vessels of the US carrier fleet. The rest, nine Nimitz-class carriers and one Enterprise are all nuclear-powered, therefore have virtually an infinite tactical distance capability at any speed. The single Kitty Hawk and John F. Kennedy carriers are simply a minority, and are not truely representative of US carrier power or range.