-6- Also, without sufficient bases of its own, the United States Navy would be unable to protect American trade routes across the pacific and Atlantic and could be cut off from vital sources of supply in Malaya and Dutch east Indies. Even the coastwise traffic to South America might be subject to attack by raiders in a manner similar to the damage inflicted on Greek vessels in the Mediterranean during the past year. Because of the possibility of the blocking of the Panama canal by sabotage, the United States would have to maintain adequate naval forces on the Atlantic Coast as well as in the Pacific. In spite of the fact that distances in both the Pacific and Atlantic decrease to a certain extent the possibility of a successful naval attack, a very large fleet- two fleets, in fact- would be necessary to meet these requirements. An imponderable in the situation is, of course, Soviet Russia. There is, however, no warrant for believing that the Soviet Union would be on the side of the United States. It seems just as likely that Germany would be able to exert a preponderant influence on Russia without actual invasion, or that the doctrinaires of the Kremlin would retire into splendid isolation, hoping for the day when the pickings in Europe or Western China |