Evening star., 1933-02-06
The Fleet in the Pacific.

Out on the bosom of the Pacific
ranging over grand area of more than
2,500,o00 square miles, the might and
majesty of the United States feet are
about to unfold themselves in a two
weeks test of American sea power
Battleships, 1o,000-ton cruisers, modern
destroyers, ocean-going submarines
auxiliary surface vessels and the two
great aircraft carriers, Lexington and
Saratoga, with their swarms of scout
ing and bombing planes primed to leap
into action from their sprawling decks
are ready for a war game" which
engages the energies all told of nearly
one hundred and forty fighting ships
$4,000 men and three hundred and
twenty-five aircraft.
Divided into a 'black" attacking
force which will sally forth from the
Hawaiian Islands and blue" de-
Tending force based on the California
coast, Uncle Sans armada is bent upon
solving a vital problem in naval tactics
1t is sought to determine whether a
mobile feet of fast, light ships with a
marked superiority in air power can
overcome heavily gunned battleships
and a strong fiotilla Of submarines.
To the battleships and "subs,' theoreti-
cally guarding the Pacific Coast, is as
signed the protective task. This "blue"
force has the initial duty of scouting
for and destroying the black" raiders
before they can reach the Golden Gate
and points north and south.
The ''black" enemy, having at his
disposal all of the new 10,000-ton
cruisers and both aircraft carriers, is
expected to demonstrate the efficacy,
or otherwise, of such combination
of surface and sky craft for naval
offensive purposes, especially Of surprise
nature. The "blue" squadrons of
heavy-gunned monster battleships, sup
plemented by submarines on their part
will have the chance to show what
floating fortresses" can do in the field
of defensive operations against re-
sourceful and swift invader.
Pacifsts and little navyites habitually
decry these grand-scale naval maneu-
veYs, sometimes on grounds Of economy,
sometimes because it is claimed that
such operations are provocative" and
alarming to foreign countries. A razor
allowed to 60 dull becomes useless
As long as the American people re-
main sensible enough to maintain
q Navy commensurate with the Re-
public's requirements and RESPONSE
bilities, it must be kept an eff
cient Navy. Maneuvers and battle prac-
tice, such as the United States feet is
about to have in the Pacific, are in
dispensable to that end. Every dollar
spent in carrying them out is money
wisely spent.
There is, of course, only one country
that might object to extensive Ameri-
can naval maneuvers in the Pacific.
But it so happens that she herself, a
mighty sea power, is at the moment
by way of executing her own annual
training maneuvers at sea. The cir
cumstance that the operations will take
place within waters more or less con-
tiguous to the Philippines causes no
whit of anxiety or resentment in the
United States.
What should arouse far more indig-
nation in this country is the incredible
fact that the United States Army forces
in Hawaii, which were invited to take
part in the fleet maneuvers and would
thereby have performed valuable CO.
related military task, had to decline
because Of lack of funds. 1t would be
difficult to conceive of more classic
penny-wise pound-foolish illustration.