458 : The Atlantic 



already know, lay tremendous services of ocean transport and of 

 naval protection for that trarisport and back of that again the uphill 

 battle in submarine warfare. 



Should the argument arise that the whole matter may be changed 

 because airplanes now have greater fuel capacity or a greater radius 

 of operation, it requires only a little reflection to see that this only 

 partially affects the situation. In fact, many of the newer and faster 

 planes, including the jets, have a higher rate of fuel consumption 

 than ever before and are more dependent on supplementary services. 

 It is still economically inexpedient and logistically wasteful to antici- 

 pate that aircraft will service themselves at advanced bases though 

 this may occasionally be resorted to for particular purposes. In gen- 

 eral planes are too costly and too much needed for other services. 

 Ocean transport will still supply the planes with the fuel they burn 

 and the bombs they drop. 



The most recent pride and joy of the United States services is the 

 new advanced air base in the Arctic at Thule, Greenland. From one 

 point of view this may become a signal contribution of the air arm, 

 but from another point of view it is also a triumphant naval service. 

 The base did not fly to Greenland. It took the vast skill and expe- 

 rience of many technical services to make it possible at all and its 

 initial establishment involved the services of an armada of some four- 

 score ships operating over thousands of miles of ice-encrusted waters. 

 All will agree that the base is an invaluable asset in peace as well as 

 in war and might be designated as one of the latest completed prod- 

 ucts of "air-age" thinking — yet it also represents a combined sea-air 

 accomplishment. 



The Atlantic as a strategic area in peace and in war remains. It is 

 a complex structure; in part an unalterable feature of the physical 

 world and in part a product of human history. Nothing that we have 

 written here is to be interpreted as derogatory of nations in the non- 

 Atlantic parts of the world. World-wide associations may prove valu- 

 able and may become necessary but the ability of the Atlantic nations 

 to preserve their freedom and to be of any service in other parts of 

 the world depends upon their integrity in their own area. It is a 

 cardinal mistake for one of the free Atlantic nations to seek power 

 or curry favor in the Orient if at the same time they are losing 

 territory or losing control on their own doorstep. 



The importance of the Atlantic as a strategic area is not altered by 

 the creation of new weapons or round-the-world bombers. The arms 



