NAVAL STATIONS AND NAVAL BASES. ° 145 
(b) Correspond with the requirements of the Monroe Doctrine and the defense 
of the Panama Canal. 
(c) Answer the main requirements of our strategy. 
As one writer expresses it, “The fundamental condition of success in war is 
harmony between policy and strategy.” Policy may be defined as the attitude or 
course of action of a nation which influences its relations and intercourse with other 
states, and as examples we may cite, in our own case, the “Monroe Doctrine,” 
“Asiatic Exclusion,” the “Open Door in China,” the “Freedom of the Seas,” an 
the defense and control of isthmian canal routes in Central America. Strategy may 
be defined as the assembling, distributing and directing, in any given area of pos- 
sible or probable hostile operations, of all the armed strength and resources of a 
nation to best secure the limited and definite objects of a policy, or war growing 
out of a conflict of policies. 
Mahan says, for instance, that the “Monroe Doctrine is only as strong as the 
United States Navy.” That is about true of all of our policies, and it is high time, 
among other things, that we take up the consideration and study of the question of 
naval stations and naval bases on the basis of our strategy and the needs of our fleet, 
rather than on the narrower lines along which such questions are now settled. 
DISCUSSION. 
THE CHAIRMAN :—Gentlemen, this paper by Captain Niblack on “Naval Stations and 
Naval Bases” is now open for discussion. 
Commopore J. W. Mitier, Vice-President:—The broad scope of Captain Niblack’s 
paper undoubtedly prevented him from dwelling in detail upon many of the important sub- 
jects relating to coast defense. May I be permitted to amplify one? 
He touched upon the necessity of bettering the line of defense between New York and 
Boston. 
It has been my good fortune during the past few years to be connected with the 
building of the Cape Cod Canal. It was begun as a commercial and financial enterprise 
to afford a safer route for a coast merchant marine equal to what passes through the Suez 
Canal. : 
The European war began and the canal at once became, in addition, a military and 
naval necessity. The sinking of vessels by the German submarine on the off-shore route 
around Nantucket proves this. The passage of the German steamer Willehad from Boston 
to New London through the canal, to keep within the 3-mile limit, also confirms this argu- 
ment. 
The sooner we get a marine trench between the Hudson and Massachusetts Bay, the 
sooner will our populous and richest Atlantic coast cities be insured comparative safety 
from a hostile fleet. 
