Evening star., 1941-12-14

Ter to the map on the first page OF
thts sectton.)
The curtain rose a week ago on the
long awaited, historic tragedy of the
Pacific war. The stage Is the surface of
the worlds largest ocean, and upon it
untold numbers of men will die fighting
for the possession of a few great bases
and thousands Of small islands.
The clashfng fleets VIII pivot upon
these specks Of land, because OF the vast
ness Of the watery arena and the limited
radius on which warships can operate.
Re~aa strategists agree that no major
neea engagement should take place more
than 1900 10 5000 miles from repair
doch. INTO which crippled vessels can
Huap eesee battle. Yet, tt rs 5000 miles
between Aaaaka and New Zealand: 5000
m63ss between San Francisco and Sing
epurA
~ cotton win hinge upon the fortified
hEhoos and docks and the nesting places
Of vafpsanee-an the patrols, conveys,
h1pc&sdss and offensive action. The
sads whtoh holds or seizes the outlying
bases can foroe the enemy fleet back
Into his home ports and carry the war
10 the cities Of the opposing power.
The United States Fleet Is especially
designed to do battle in the Pacific by
operating at the maximum distance from
bases. At some sacrifice of speed and
maneaverability, our warships were built
with the greatest possible cruising range.
and they were designed to be the most
ruggedly armored, heavily gunned and
-suf6cient of their type. American
lighting ships are accompanied by un-
usually large feet trains-the repair
ships, cargo ships, tugs, transports, oilers,
minesweepers and net layers. In large
scale action the train frees the fleet. ia
some extent, from dependence on fixed
shore establishments.
Strategic Bases
This country's Pacific mainland bases
are at San Diego, San Francisco and
Seattle. Its outlying bases are at Sitka,
Kodiak, Anchorage and Dutch Harbor,
In Alaska; in Hawaii; in the Philippines
and on a dozen or so islands as far
south as Samoa.
The home bases Of the enemy are at
Yokosuka, Maizuru, Kure and Sasebo;
and his outposts are at Formosa, Bonin,
Camranh Bay in 1ndo- China, and, it is
believed, on many of the inundated
islands which lie between Hawaii and the
Philippines.
To the south are the bases Of this
country's allies, in New Zealand, Aus
trala and in the Netherlands East Indies.
At the extreme west is Britain's mighty
island base of Singapore, almost touch
ing the southern tip OF Malay Penin-
sula.
Outside of Japan and the United States
mainland, the only major repair bases
on the Pacific are at Pearl Harbor,
Hawaii, and Singapore. There the larg-
est capital ships can be docked and put
in order. Some of the other bases have
repair facilities, but their capacity Is
limited.
Pearl Harbor Is at the apex Of the
United States inner defense hne in the
Pacific, which runs from the Aleutian
Islands TO Hawaii TO Samoa to Panama.
WI eiifS al CO VI ~ eiic
American forces are reasonably free to
operate, and enemy fleets cannot safely
penetrate the zone.
Pearl Harbor, 2,4O0 miles from San
Francisco, Is a constant menace to any
force seeking to make raids on the West
Coast or the Panama Canal: and 1t Is
unlikely that the japanese will attempt
q large-scale attack on the American
mainland as long as the feet IN Pearl
Harbor is at its back.
Some Americans have argued IN the
past for making this inner defense line
a naval frontier, beyond which American
forces would not be permitted to operate.
The Navy Department resolutely opposed
this since it would restrict the Navy's
function to one of coast defense. The
Navy argued that equal Importance
should be attached to control of mari
time communication lines and the ability
to conduct operations far from the
American coast when the enemy can be
taken at a disadvantage.
Partly as a result of this isolationist
movement the Philippines were long dis
regarded as a factor in United States
military strategy. After the Philippine
Independence Act was passed in 1884,
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