Evening star., 1940-01-10
Ships, Guns and Guam

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Admiral Harold r. Stark, chief of
naval operations, has given to the
House Naval Affairs Committee a
clear and frank statement of the
Navy's needs as he sees them in the
light of ominous conditions prevail
Ing in today's war-torn world. The
veteran officer has appraised Amer
ica's naval position with the critical
eyes of an expert on national defense
and has found serious flaws. He asks
for more ships and stronger bases
not with a view to making war but
to preserve peace; not for offense
but as deterrent against foreign
aggression"
The present naval establishment
was designed to defend the United
States against attack by a single
major power. But events in Europe
last year showed that formidable
combinations of powers can evolve
almost overnight, to constitute un-
dreamed of threats to peaceful ma
tions and to necessitate quick and
drastic revision of programs of de-
fense. Admiral Stark points out that
the Navy would be derelict in its
duty if it were to ignore now the
possibility of foreign coalitions that
might menace the security Of the
American continent. He told the
committee that the international
situation is rife with possibilities of
general European war, and in con-
junction with Far Eastern condi-
tions, presents a threat of world con-
flagration."
In urging Congress to approve a
twenty-five per cent expansion of
the Navy at cost of approximately
81 100000 900, Admiral Stark ex-
planned administration plans for
construction of more than hundred
ships in categories below that of the
capital class. He also said that
studies have indicated the advisa-
bility of building, some time in the
future, battleships of $4,000 or $4,000
tons, armed with eighteen-inch bat
teries. OF special Importance was
his disclosure that the Navy Depart
ment has included in it's expansion
budget an allotment of four million
dollars for improvement of the har-
bor at Guam, our tiny but strategi-
cally located island possession in the
Pacific Ocean.
The House last year rejected five
million dollar item for the Guam
project, apparently due largely to a
misunderstanding as to the purpose
of the proposed works. There was
also a feeling among some of the
legislators that the improvements
might offend Japan to the point of
provoking war in the Pacific. The
misunderstanding arose from tend
ency to confuse the Navy's modest
harbor program with the eighty
million-dollar fortiflcation project
recommended by the so-called Hep
burn Board. AS a matter of fact,
the Navy wishes at this time only to
erect a breakwater to provide safer
landing and mooring facilities for
commercial and naval seaplanes and
to remove certain coral distractions
hindering movement of seaplanes
and other craft. No Notifications
nor gun emplacements such as were
envisioned by some critics Of the
project last year are contemplated
under the requested appropriation.
That Japan might view such harbor
improvements as a threat of war by
the United States is inconceivable.
And if Japan has no designs on the
United States, she could have no
reasonable objection to the use of
Guam by the Navy as an island out
post, equipped to watch for any
threat from the Far East and to
flash a warning to our main line of
defense in the Pacific, which extends
from Unalaska through Hawaii to
the Panama Canal. There is no need
to fortify Guam at present, but pru-
dence and common sense are on the
side of the Navy in the plan to
make Guam serve as defensive
listening post in the troubled Far
East.