Evening star., 1939-09-25
Sea Power

Captain w. d. Puleston, U. S. N,
retired, author of "Mahan," in
chapter devoted to that famed
American seaman's standard work,
"The Influence of Sea Power Upon
the French Revolution and Empire"
writes:
Napoleon had encamped 10000
Of the most brilliant soldiery of all
time. Let us be masters of the Eng
lish Channel for six hours and we
shall be masters of the world the
Corsican had written. This was
scarcely an exaggeration, for, after
Napoleon abandoned his plan to in
wade England, these splendid soldiers
in rapid succession triumphed over
Austria at Ulm, over Austria and
Russia at Austerlitz, over Prussia at
Jena, and over Russia at Friedland,
in four of Europe's most decisive land
battles. But, in spite of these vic
tories ashore, Admiral Mahan mar
rates how those far-distant, storm
beaten ships, upon which the Grand
Army never looked, stood between it
and the dominion of the world"
Napoleon had inflicted crushing
defeats upon Austria, Russia and
Prussia. The continent was at his
mercy. But he was baffled and help
less at sea. How like the recent ca
reer and present plight of the would
be Napoleon, Adolf Hitler He, toe, has
conquered Austria and Prussia, be-
sides Czecho-Slovakia and Poland,
and has apparently won Russian sup
port for his final purpose-what
he hopes will be victorious strug-
gle with Great Britain and France.
Between the Nazi and that goal, of
course, stand the Maginot Line, the
strength and valor of the Franco
British armies plus the determina-
tion of the allied peoples to fight
until Poland is restored and Hitler
ism destroyed. But behind all these
factors are the "far distant. storm
beaten ships" of which Mahan spoke.
1t was the British Navy that
Brought Germany to her knees
in the World War after her
armies had won victories as stupen-
dous as Napoleon's and of vastly
greater magnitude than anything so
far accomplished by the German
war machine in this war.
1t is well for Americans to ponder
that fact as they contemplate lu-
gubriously the results of Hitler's
Blitzkrieg. U-boats have already
sunk some 10000 tons of British
shipping, but Britain last week had
only thirteen merchant ships sub
marined, while at the height of the
unrestricted U-boat campaign in
1917, she was losing an average
of thirty-nine ships a week. In ad-
dition, the British Navy's anti-U-
boat drive is successfully at work.
At least six German submarines are
said to have been destroyed in
Guiding the one that torpedoed the
Courageous.
But the overwhelmingly impressive
aspect of the war at sea is the COM
plete disappearance of the proud,
brand : new 4,50O,O0O ton German
merchant marine. It's ships have
been swept from the oceans as effec-
tually as if they had never been
launched. The great passenger and
cargo vessels of the Hamburg -Ameri-
can, North German Lloyd, Woer-
mann, Hamburg South American
and other lines which three weeks
ago were plying their globe -girdling
trade out of Hamburg and Bremen
are tied up in neutral or home har-
bors, as useless for Hitler's purpose as
fleet of rowboats. Germany's sea-
borne commerce, on which her
economic welfare depends, is no
more.
That is what those "far distant,
storm beaten" ironclads that fly the
Union Jack have achieved. 1t is
a stranglehold that will grow
stronger as time goes on. In the
light Of the whole history of war,
Hitler cannot establish his domina-
ton while Britain commands the
sea, for, as Mahan contends, "in a
war between a great naval power
and great military power the coun-
try with control of the sea always
wins"
The very birth of this Nation, on
the word of none other than George
Washington, vindicates the Mahan
doctrine. General Washington told
Lafayette that the campaign of 1871
must depend absolutely upon the
naval force which is employed in
these seas and the time of it's ap-
pearance next year. No land force
can act decisively unless accom-
panied by a maritime superiority"
That is as true in 1899 as it was on
the threshold Of Yorktown.
The Department of Agriculture has
issued bulletin on "The Pink Trav-
cling Bollworm." Most of us have
met a specimen in Pullman smok-