Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-12-30

interview with Admired ArIeish A.
Burke, Chief Of Naval Operations, BY
william HiIlmsn, jOurnoIist and
outhor.
war except under one Of two con-
ditionS.
One Of the conditions would
be that she may not believe us
and may feel that she has a
defensive organization, some sort
of defensive scheme, so that she
thinks we cannot destroy her
that somehow she can knock
down all Of our airplanes, all Of
our missiles, and that she won't
be destroyed. Or, she may think
that she can accept the risk
of certain destruction, and still
find it worthwhile to try to win
what's left of the world. can't
see any other reason why she
would deliberately start a gen.
eral war.
1t is possible, however, that
a general war could start in an
other way, and that would be
accidental-the world might
back into 1t. For example, sup
pose a crisis comes up-like the
Middle East. The Soviets do
certain things. We do a little
more. Then they do a little
more. The first thing you know,
they may become convinced that
we are going to attack them and
we become convinced that they
are going to attack us and then
they trigger it. That is possible.
We are certainly going to be
very careful about that.
Hillman: Where does that
leave us, admiral?
Admiral Burke: That doesn't
mean that the Communists are
not going to fight, or that they
are not going to cause a fight.
They are. I think, going to do
everything that they possibly
can to gain control of more peo-
pies. more territory. more every
thing, because that is their aim
in life. They want to dominate.
They will try to blackmail US
over and over again-"You had
better let us do this little thing
you wouldn't want to start a
general war over my going into
this little country. would you?
You shouldn't worry about this
little country or that little coun-
try. should you? That isn't i'm
portant enough to start a gen.
eral war. is it?" And so on. But
each thing is important because
every country is important in
the free world.
Htilman: What is the role of
the Navy in such circumstances?
Admiral Burke: The Navy
must be ready, as it was in the
Middle East, to protect Ameri-
can citizens. Then you have to
be ready to fight any kind Of
aggression that we might have
to counter-whether 1t involves
a little bit of action in which a
squad of Marines is involved
or a big battle. or maybe a gen.
eral war.
The Navy has to be ready for
everything. If there is ground
fighting anywhere, the Navy
transports troops and the tons
of equipment they need. Some
times there are no land bases
nearby from which planes can
operate. Then we have to 90 in
with ships-aircraft carriers,
missile ships. and all the
rest. Our ships fight their way
in II they have to-and stay
until the job is done.
Control Of Seas Vital
1t Is not accidental that prac-
tically every ally we have is on
a seacoast. They are connected
with us by sea. This is just plain
geography. keep saying in pub
lie speeches that the security
Of Turkey. Greece. Italy, the
Scandinavian countries, Japan.
Formosa. the Philippines and all
the free world is dependent upon
control Of the seas, and it is.
] mean by that that our friends
overseas can't live even a few
days unless friendly forces con-
troll the seas all the way to their
shores. Inacases Of islands like
Japan, Formosa and the Philip I
pines-you must also control the
seas between them and the Com
mainland. In today's
world the United States Navy
has unprecedented responsible !
ties.
I am making one point. Your
troops, supplies. fuel, facilities
and the things you must have to
fight must go by water. by ship. /
The Navy must see that they
get there. Let me point out an /
interesting fact about water and
geography and recent events. /
This Suez business was really
not a major military operation
at all. but it stopped traffic in
the Suez waterway. and all Eu-
rope was Immediately in trouble.
tremendous trouble. Even those
nations who we're not involved in
military operations were in
trouble. Here we are in peace
time. and some of our allies are
out Of gasoline. They
are already in danger of running
out of aircraft fuel-and yet
there Is no fighting at all--on
land or sea.
ships Must Go Through
What would happen in time