The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1942-02-18

round with an INFORMED nAtlo'
prepared TO pay the price 81 vie
tory. ~ that what II may.
Have the deficiencies 81 ma
teriaI, limited Al In the Rob
erss report. h~en made sccds
l. u true that q. =. army
bomsers. Intended for heavy
bombardment operations. are
being wastefnily frittered
away NJ Hawaii for scouting
purposes nv the navy under
the new system ef unified
command. Have the eat-and-
dog service rsvalries between
the blue and the Khaki NJ
Pearl Harbor and Hickman
Field been ironed out.
Bruised Hawaii stiil crouches IN
deadliest peril Lightning can
and often does - strike twice.
True. TOTO would have TO chance
a great part Of his fieet-dread-
naughts. carriers. cruisers. de-
stroyers and a swarm Of twe-msn
suicide submarines but he might
risk the gamble. Final snnihils-
ton Of the American armsdss
would be worth almost any price.
soMNAMBULIsIs FOOLED
JapAn's once derided airmen
have fooled our somnsmbulists.
They have been proven skillful
pilots and accurate marksmcn.
Their bombs and projectile possess
a German deadliness--they are NOD
tin cans and firecrsckers
n naval history teaches
anything u teaches that .es
battles are unpredictable. In
besd-on clash 81 approx
usteIy equal forces the Jap
spese could win and take over
the United states.
Our fleet has to wstch the vul-
nerable Panama Canal as well ar
Hawaii. IL has a new task in the
Atlantic now that Hitlers battle
ships have broken loose. II is pro-
tecting California and exposed
Alaska. Its units are In all oceans
but II cannot be everywhere in
force at once.
MAY ATTACH DUTCH HARBOR
II Hirohito's admirsls spot its
main concentration - say at Ha-
waii-they can attack some place
else where 1t is thin: most likely
Dutch Hsrbor in our own Alaska.
From the enemy's northernmost
Pacific outpost In the Kuriles to
Dutch Harbor is 500 miles: from
Dutch Harbor TO Kodiak. only 622
miles; from Kodiak to sitka, 622
miles. from Sitks 10 Seattle 800
miles. n Japan could jump these
stepping stones. II would be worth
a great sacrifice for the knockout
she might deliver to the California
aviation plants alone.
This strategy also applies
in reverse to the Japanese.
But they have the advantage
of an interior position and
only one naval war m their
hands. Moreover they are on
the offensive; the United
states II on the defensive.
Even before Pearl Harb Dor
Japan's naval building program
had been rushed to a stage which
gave her a higher tonnage ratio 10
the United states than ever before
in her history. Our ambitious two
ocean program, started IN 1910
was designed 10 restore the old
$50 ratio Of the Washington
treaty BY 1p44. But Nippon, be-
cause Of her head start, wss ss-
pected IN have q $50 ratio BY
1912. and sctusl superiority In new
super-bsttleships IL In the 10000
or 5000 ton classes.
HAD INFORMATION IN 1910
This information was cautiously
disclosed to the senate naval af-
fairs committee in April. 1910, by
Admiral Harold r. Stark. chief Of
naval operations. The deficiency,
let It be emphasized. was not only
in relation to the increasingly
dangerous world snti-Axis policy
Of the United states. but also In
relation 10 the minimum tonnage