Evening star., 1950-06-30
Lack Of Navy Carriers
In Far East Called
Tragedy by Writer
Personnel Even Needed
To Man Ships Long
Placed in 'MothbulIs'
By David Laurence

Placed in 'Mothbolis'
By David Laurence
There's a real tragedy in con-
nection with the sudden decision
to support by arms the Republic
of Korea-it's a tragedy of which
the American people are not yet
aware.
Out in the Far East today there
is only one United States aircraft
carrier. Yet more than 100 car
riers are in "mothballs."
Out in the Far East there are
no Marine Corps regiments. Near
ly 1000 Marines are in the camps
in continental United States.
Out in the Far East is, rela-
lively speaking. a small number Of
troops stationed in Japan and yet
the President has announced that
Formosa is to be protected against
invasion-a job for Naval forces
and Korea is to be given air
cover and sea protection, which
again is a job for a substantial
Naval force with adequate air
craft and amphibious operations.
Why was the Western Pacific
left without large Naval forces?
Why have nearly all the aircraft
carriers been put in "mothballs"?
Where is the personnel to man
more aircraft carriers If they
should be taken out Of moth
balls" in 80 or 60 days, which is
the time required to man them?
Touch and Go Situation.
The situation in Korea is touch
and 60. The United States
Marines might we'll have accom-
panied the cruisers and destroyers
which are now bombarding
bridgeheads. The Marines have
the best communications system
from ground to air an6 the trained
flyers and planes to carry on tao
tical warfare against tanks.
It certainly isn't easy for BIOS
to locate tanks. And the main job
OF fighter planes is to get control
Of the air against enemy aircraft
and not to conduct low-level or
dive-bombing operations against
tanks.
All in all the big question which
the American people will want
answered soon is why the United
States Navy has been pushed aside
and its aircraft carriers and Ma
rines kept 5000 miles or more
away from a trouble area which
for several months has been ad-
vertised as such in the news
papers. They were not even gar
risoned at Guam.
II a United States carrier task
force had been patrolling Korean
waters, the aggression by the
North Koreans might never have
happened.
Job For Carriers.
The United States Air Force
planes, flying back and forth to
Korea from their base in japan,
take about two hours up to the
front and back and can spend
only couple hours or so over
the combat area. Their fuel will
not permit longer sojourns and
their sorties cannot be as frequent
as they would be for airplanes
coming off the deck of a carrier
stationed in waters close to the
combat zone. The job in the
Korean waters is one for the air
craft carriers of the Navy and
its amphibious troops-the Ma
rines-which carried on the els
land hopping" in the last war.
But the psychology that there
never would be another important
amphibious landing and that
everything can be done from the
air has prevailed in allocating
funds. The idea that ground
troops would be needed, along
with sea support and tactical air
cover from carriers, and that
mobile rather than fixed bases
would be required in different
parts of the world has not been
accepted by the Army and Air
Force spokesmen. The Marine
Corps has been cut down and
nearly all the aircraft carriers
of the Navy have been taken out
of commission as an economy
move while the bulk of the money
is spent in other directions.
Wars are never fought as they
are expected to be fought. The
words of General Eisenhower on
February 3 last on this point are
pertinent:
"One great thing about war is
that, if and when such a tragedy
visits us again, it is always going
to happen under circumstances,
at places and under conditions
different from those you expect or
plan for"
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