The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1893-06-03
SATURDAY, JUNE 3, 1898,
NoRDHoFF ON PEARL HARBoR.

turns briefly from his
review of local politics to discuss the
problem of defense. Mr.. Nordhoff
had visited Pearl Harbor in yacht,
and as he entered the narrow channel
it occurred to him that a fleet which
should rendezvous there could be
hopelessly imprisoned by two hostile
vessels off the bar CAS- the channel
is only wide enough for one ship to
pass out at a time" he wrote, q" two
or three enemy's ships lying at a con,
venient distance at sea could sink and |
destroy the first of our own that at
tempted to get out Of the Pearl lagoon
trap and thus stop up the outlet"
If all this is a correct military de
duction from the topography of Pearl
Harbor then what becomes of the
strategic theory touching the Nicaragua
canal? which canal, as may be OBJ
served, will also be narrow passage
through which men-of-war will have to
steam in single file to reach deep water.
Military engineers agree that the canal
would enable an American fleet to
rendezvous in Lake Nicaragua from
where it could hurry either to the
Atlantic or Pacific upon call; but the
gospel of war, according to Nordhott,
brings one to quite an opposite con
Clusion. All an enemy would need to
do in his opinion, is to post
an ironcad or two at the
mouths of the canal and by sinking
the first vessel which should come in
sight on the waterway pen up the rest
of the squadron. 1t might seem strange
that the ablest naval and military minds
of the United States should not have
thought of this before recommending
the canal on the grounds made familiar
to the public by numerous official re
ports, if it were not for certain basal
principles of defense, familiar to them
but which Mr.. NordhOf seems to have
overlooked in his elaborate theorizing.
Has the HerdIdS correspondent
never heard of the use of forts, siege
guns and torpedo systems as a pro-
lection to the outlets of harbOrs ? Has
it never been revealed to him that
modern shore ornaments are capable
of keeping war ships off coast at a
range too great for their own smaller
cannon to be effective Himself a
man of naval reading and experience
does not Mr. Nordhof know that it is
impracticable to do long distance siege
firing from the deck of ship with
guns of the large cali5er and
range which are available and use
full when mounted on terra TRINA?
If not, we would suggest that he
read the late reports of the British
Admiralty wherein is recorded deciS-
ion to remove the mammoth ordnance
now on English ironClads, where it is
but half effective and mount it on the
coast where it could do the service for
which itc Caliher fire II
To meet Mr. Nordhoff's objection
more specifically, we will imagine that
Hawaii has been annexed to the United
States and that the latter power is at
war with England. An American fleet
is behind the fortified heads OF Pearl
harbor, which is the objective point of
British squadron. The approach of
the hostile ships, if by day. would be
slgnaIed from Diamond Head and
other points of observation, and the
United States vessels, which, in a time
of war, would be ready to weigh anchor
at short notice, would be out of the
harbor cleared for action in about
twenty minutes If the enemy should
approach by night he would be dis
covered by the search lights of the
patrol cruisers and a shower of rockets
would bring the fleet out Of its covert
in ample time for business. In any
event, the Pearl-harbor squadron would
reach the high seas before blockade
could be attempted.
But suppose another case We will
violate all the probabilities of naval war
fare and assume that the American
iron clads would be caught mapping in
a eHl,de-sac by Mr. Nordhoff'S "two
or three enemys ships" What then ?
The Heyalds correspondent would
have the United States vessels file out
IN the teeth Of the hostile broadsides
and go to pieces in their own alley way.
The officer in command, however,
would take quite different course.
As soon as the positions of the for