Top 10 naval powers in the world (2025): Where does Indian Navy rank?
Top-10 Strongest Navy in the World 2025 List: In the Global Firepower Rankings 2025, India stands at the 5th position globally, with its fleet total tonnage of 593,603 tonnes, and secures the 6th position with 293 vessels based on fleet strength.
Top 10 global naval powers in 2025: Explore the top 10 strongest navies in the world 2025, featuring the US, China, Russia, and India. (Navy Image)
Top 10 Powerful and Strongest Navy in the World 2025: Amid rising geopolitical uncertainty, there has been a rise in global military expenditure to $2718 billion, with the share of global gross domestic product (GDP) devoted to the military increasing to 2.5 per cent last year.
In addition to air forces and military personnel, having a formidable presence of naval powers is crucial, as it protects a country’s shores from threats, deters potential aggressors, and maintains stability and peace in international waters.
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The United States Navy continues to dominate as the most powerful naval force in the world, followed closely by China’s rapidly expanding People’s Liberation Army Navy, Russia, and India, each rapidly modernising and expanding their fleets to enhance strategic reach and maritime dominance
Top 10 most powerful navies in the world (by total tonnage, as of 2025)
In the 2025 Global Firepower rankings, we look at the strongest navy fleets globally by tonnage, as it offers a more accurate measure of a country’s maritime power than simply counting the number of ships.
Rank
Country
Total Tonnage
1
United States
4,168,037
2
China
2,857,143
3
Russia
1,260,447
4
Japan
769,882
5
India
593,603
6
France
428,765
7
United Kingdom
394,043
8
Italy
359,417
9
South Korea
344,786
10
Turkiye
325,729
Source: Global Firepower Rankings 2025
Naval fleet strength in 2025:
When evaluating naval fleet strength based on the total number of warships and submarines, China has the largest fleet, comprising a total of 700 vessels. The United States follows with 440, and Russia ranks third with 419.
Interestingly, Sweden and Indonesia also make it into the global top five, with fleet strengths of 331 and 308, respectively. This is noteworthy since they rank 42nd and 11th, respectively, in terms of naval tonnage.
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Where does the Indian Navy stand globally and compared with China and Pakistan?
Following the US, China has emerged as a major naval and maritime power, and notably, it leads in the Indo-Pacific region with 319.8 TrV, whereas India ranks a distant second regionally and seventh globally, with a TrV of 100.5.
In the Global Firepower Rankings 2025, following the USA and China, India stands in the 5th position globally, with its fleet total tonnage of 593,603 tonnes, and secures the 6th position with 293 vessels based on fleet strength.
Cherry Gupta is an Assistant Manager – Content at The Indian Express. She leads the Top 10 section, curating list-based features on key national and international developments, and manages daily news content. She also produces SEO-driven articles and collaborates with the Lifestyle team to conduct interviews with notable artists and write workplace culture features. ... Read More