The Daily Alaska empire. [volume] (Juneau, Alaska) 1926-1964, 1944-05-20

the Navy has grown nightly in size and strength
beyond what either friend or foe believed possible
Today it is the biggest navy in history no longer
merely our first line of defense but our first arm of
offense It's heroism and battle sacrifices not only
Kept the war from the shoes OF the Americas but
also cleared the oceans SO that America now can
deploy her full might farflung battefronts And
if as Admiral King reports the situation OF the enemy
is desperate in Europe and dark and threatening in
the Far East the Navy claim first credit for this
1t helped to beat the Uboat it stopped the Japanese
advance; it opened up the way to the bases from
which we can carry the to the enemy 1t is our
guarantee of final victory.
Yet Admiral King is the first to emphasize the
revolution that has taken place in naval thinking.
In the battle off Guadalcanal the Navy engaged III
what he describes 'one of the most furious sea
battles ever foughtpthe kind of battle which till the
outbreak of this considered the primary func-
ton of the Navy and the only kind possible against
Japan But this war says Admiral King, has DEM
onstrated that victory depends first, on air power
which more often than not predominates, and sec
ond on amphbious operations which require the closest
coordination of land sea and air forces Japans
initial successes, he points out were largely due to
Japans predominance in both these fields. But AM
erica has learned, and learned fast. The battle OF
the Coral Sea- the first naval engagement In whlch
not shot fired by surface vessels against each
other and the decisive victory off Midway, which
inflicted the first decisive defeat of the Japanese
NAVY in 45O years, were by air power, and
clinched the argument for it, And the necessity OF
advancing on both Germany and Japan from pre-
ninary bases through amphibious operations fixed
the character OF this The very exigencies OF
these operations, Admiral King reports, have done
much to promote effective cooperation between all
three branches of the service who now realize that
they are all part of and the same United States
force to which Admiral King adds the recommended
ton of a unified command If such conditions had
prevailed before the war, Pearl Harpor would nave
been impossible.
The present report canont of course reveal all
the details of than years of war, in which
the Navy has played such a glorious part. But the
report ON the individual battles pays well-deserved
and often poignant tribute to the heroism OF our
naval and air fighters who flung themselves against
the enemy often against desperate odds and in some
instances as in the battle off Midway, attained
degree sacrifice that put to shame the fanatca
suicide mania of the enemy 1t renders equally i'm
pressve tribute to the and quick expansion OF
the NAVY Within two years it acquired six
battleshps and some fifty aircraft carriers that
are to reach one hundred by the end of this year
Its personnel strength from $4,000 to 2252O00
men and officers No navy in the world has grown
so fast and still kept its efficiency high And that
is great tribute to American Ingenuity and spirit
But perhaps the most sautary lesson lies in
Admiral Kings report the situation at the out
break of the war Though the menace OF Germany
and Japan had been rising for years, we maintained
fatal Maginot mentality of own, thinking merely
in terms of defense We did not begin to build up
our Navy until the had actually started Ana
when the war finally engufed this country our forces
were inadequate meet the demonds in both oceans
Even without Pearl Harbor Admiral King emphasizes,
the fleet could have proceeded to Manila without
facing certain disaster Except for submarine war
fare we we're unable to take the offensive in any
theatre of war; and only what look like miracles in
retrospect saved America from becoming a battefied
That must not happen again.