Evening star., 1949-10-12
Navy
Continued From First Page

Halsey declared.
The United States has been q
leader in developing mobile fight
ing techniques since railroads be-
came an important strategic tool
in the Civil War, he recalled. He
seconded the strong plea for re-
newed attention to sea-controlled
forces, including naval aviation
made to the committee last night
by Admiral William H. P. Blandy
Atlantic Fleet commander. ~~-s
Tactical Need Greater.
War, If it comes. he said. will
not commence with attacks
against the continental United
States.
Attacks would be directed
against allies and positions whose
loss would leave us in economic
political and psychological isolAs
toin."
Our forces must be such that
they could move quickly against
the enemy in the field, and his
supply stocks nearby, Admiral
Halsey continued.
"Bombers which pass these mil
itary targets by on the way to
distant city targets, won't stop
anything" Admiral Halsey de-
clared, except possibly bullets
from the thousands of high-fying
fighters an aggressor will have"
Bombing of big cities would
cause the enemy citizenry to be
fused into a solid stubborn mass
by the fires of their burning
homes, even as we would be-" he
said.
Urges Mobile War Theory.
'The last war proved" Admiral
Halsey continued, that it was a
mistake to attempt deep un-
escorted penetrations of enemy air
space until we have had command
Of the air.
There were a lot of miscon-
ceptions such as the ability of
Bits and B-29s to attack with
out fighter support that had to
be cleared away. And they were
cleared away in the fire of battle" !"
In support of his theory of
mobile warfare as exemplified
by Navy task forces, Admiral
Halsey said:
1T was the mobile concentra-
tion Of our forces which permitted
us to win the entire war in the
Pacific with less casualties than
the Allies sustained in the Italian
campaign alone"
Dangerous Assumption"
Admiral King said it would be
dangerous indeed" to assume
"that a would-be aggressor is
frightened by the threat of aerial
bombs"
"A bad boy ought to be kept
in his own backyard" Admiral
King conceded. "but the throw
ing of stones at him is more
likely to drive him out than to
keep him in" Using the metaphor
to support his contention thar
strategic bombing is being given
disproportionate emphasis, he
went on:
"He is more likely to stay in
his place If he is made to realize
that as soon as he steps into for
hidden territory he will be forcibly
thrown out and therefore iso-
lated from the neighborhood."
Sees Atomic Stalemate.
In a bid for a Navy share of the
Job of using atomic missiles an6
for continued development of q
strong naval air striking force
Admiral King asked:
Are we to say that only an all
force can use missile that flies
through the air or that only an
air force can use atomic ex.
plosives? The absurdity of this
trend to monopolize and special.
ize has become apparent"
I'm view of recent develop
ments," Admiral King concluded
''now is the time to make a thor.
ough re-examination Of our port
folio of defense investments, ex-
changing some of the speculative
issues for battle-tested blue
chips"
With atomic weapons on both
sides, he said a future war might
develop ints t'some kind Of stale.