Evening star., 1945-07-16
Sea Power Has Come
Into Own, Says Writer
Smelling of Japan Called Climax
To 8 Years of Navy Sacrifices
By David laurence


land in 1910. has come into its own For
the United States Navy is now DEM
onstrating, for the first time In the his
tory of modern warfare, that it can
lombard at will the factories, plants
and ports on the coast of an enemy
country whose strong fleet has been
defeated on the high seas, thus expos
ing inevitably the mainland to certain
invasion by a huge army.
AS the United States Navy roams
along the coast of Japan, bombarding
industrial targets with some OF those
mighty battleships which were being
scorned by thoughtless critics a few
years ago, the concept of sea power is
revealed in all its majesty. For, as Ad-
miral King, commander in chief of the
feet, has stated, sea power doesn't mean
just the big guns Of surface vessels, but
the devastating bombs of the planes
that fly from decks of carriers and the
torpedoes that shoot from underwater
craft and annihilate enemy shipping
all working together.
When the full story, for instance, of
what our submarines have done to win
the war against Japan can be told, a
chapter just as spectacular and as full
of individual exploits of heroism and
daring as that of any other branch Of
the service will be disclosed. The air.
plane carriers, of course, make spectacu-
lar news that can be given out at once
and deserve all the credit bestowed upon
them, but the little destroyers, mine-
sweepers and PIT boats, which poke
their noses boldly into enemy waters
close to shore, and the battleships,
cruisers and destroyers that screen and
protect the aircraft carriers by throw
ing up curtain of shells against en-
emy planes-all these play their role,
too, as an integral part of sea power.
Operating as Team.
Fortunately the United States Navy
Is team 1t is not troubled by feudS
between types of services. Perhaps this
is because every officer who aspires to
a naval career must do tour of duty
in all kinds of ships above and below
the surface. Secretary of the Navy
Forrestal says he wants every Naval
Academy midshipman hereafter to learn
to fly. There has been in the past.
however, an an-around quality to the
Navy'S training which has given it an
unexcelled efficiency in this war. 1t
has its own infantry for amphibious war
the Marine Corps. 1t has its own
construction battalions and engineers to
build airfelds when landings have been
made-the "Seabees." 1t has it's own
air arm, and its own transport service
and its own medical corps-a truly COM
plete military organization.
1t is no disparagement of the great
British navy to note that in 1943 some
of her aircraft carriers were sent to the
Pacific to learn from the American Navy
all about task-force operations, am
phibious warfare and the fleet train
supply system with which We have revo-
lutionized naval operations so that a
feet nowadays can stay at sea as much
as three months before going back 10
a port.
Nor is it disparagement of the won
derful job done by the Army Air Forces
and the decisive part they played in de-
feating Germany to point out that the
Army air groups had numerous bases
Immediately available on the meadows
of England just few miles across the
English Channel, whereas the United
State Navy first had to beat of the
japanese fleet in order to seize those
big island bases from which today the
B-2ss and. other Army bombers and
fighter escorts are flying.
The Marines and the Army ground
troops and artillerymen, with naval and
Marine pilots providing tactical air
cover, had to pay dearly with their own
blood to take and hold the string of
strategic bases stretching thousands of
miles across the Pacific to the very
shores of Japanese territory.
Climax to Sacrifices.
Today those sacrifices made in New
Guinea, the Solomons, the Caroline
Islands, the Gilbert and Marshalls, in
Palau, the Philippines, Two Jima and
Okinawa are revealed in their true per-
spective. For the battleships of the
United States Navy, rowing in ocean
areas protected to the rear and on the
fianks by Army air squadrons from these
very bases, are actually bombarding the
coast of Japan-a sensational climax
in the evolution of this war. An almost
endless chain of supply ships steams
to the edge of the combat zone hourly
from bases 1900 miles or more away
with fuel and munitions and food, thus
indefinitely so that the bombardment
can be continuous-even for weeks when
this becomes necessary to protect in
vasion operations.
Nothing like this has been accom-
plished before by any navy in the his
tory of the world. 1t is great achieve
ment of which the families of the A.
100000 boys in the United States Navy
can be proud. For here is an instru-
mentality traditionally thought of as q
first line of defense" 1t has become in
reality our first line Of offense.
Sea power right now is justifying it.
self as an indispensable asset to the
safety of our Republic. Above all, il
stands out as the amazing product oi
our industrial skill and resources, our
management an0 our labor. For within
three years the American people have
built and manned and deployed success
fully the most powerful feet that ever
sailed the seSs.
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