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Show - COMMENTS NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL PROBLEMS INSEPARABLE FROM LOCAL WELFARE Big question in the minds of millions of Americans has been : "Where is the Navy ?" That question was partially answered on January 24, 25 and 26, when the Navy Department De-partment announced that a group of destroyers destroy-ers from Admiral Hart's Asiatic Fleet had pounced upon a convoyed fleet of Japanese transports in the East Indies and destroyed numerous vessels and damaged others. The actual disposition of the main fleet is one of the most closely held naval secrets Those amateur strategists who argue that it should boldly sail into Japanese-dominated waters and come to grips with the enemy's main fleet in a gigantic action, are given no support by men who understand naval warfare. war-fare. The advantages possessed by the Japanese Jap-anese fleet in the Far East are clear. She has major bases less than a thousand miles from the Philippines. Her ships can be given constant air support. Our nearest important base, Pearl Harbor, is thousands of miles away, far beyond the effective range of even the largest airplanes. We would, in short, go into battle with all the odds against us, and risk the loss of a great fleet which is still our first line of defense. It may be that the Admiral is using His forces for what might be termed guerilla naval warfare. Small units can strike quick- j ly, inflict damage on the enemy, and get away. They can constantly harry the Japanese, Japan-ese, and make the enemy convoy problem one of ever growing difficulty. Japanese land victories in the Far East have over-shadowed the fact that we and our Allies are destroying des-troying tremendous amounts of Nipponese shipping. That, in the long pull, will be exceedingly ex-ceedingly important. According to all authorities, author-ities, Japanese ship-replacement capacity is exceedingly limited, now that she. has been cut off from this country's scrap-iron and other resourse. Every ship that goes down represents a serious loss. It is clear what Japanese strategy is now. First, she must have oil that is the reason for invasion of the East Indies.. But the Dutch say that they have destroyed all oil wells in Jap-occupied areas so thoroughly that many months of labor will still be required re-quired to return them them to production. Second, she must completely conquer the Philippines.' As long as General McAr-thur's McAr-thur's magnificient troops are able to hold positions on the mainland, along with Cor-regidor Cor-regidor fortress, key to Manilla Bay, Jaoan will have to maintain and supply a tremendous tremend-ous army in those islands. McArthur's headquarters head-quarters have reported that the Japanese have between 200,000 and 300,000 soldiers in the field against him. |