ask, while in some ways easier, is in other ways more
difficult. Perhaps the chief reason why the naval defense of Great
Britain is so difficult is the extreme closeness of her borders
to the borders of her possible foes--for the English Channel is
only twenty-three miles across from Dover to Calais. And yet the
very narrowness of the Channel there lends a certain element of
assistance to the defender of either coast against an enemy like
Germany, because it enables the defender, by simply protecting that
narrow area, to prevent an enemy from passing to the sea or from it,
except by going around the British Isles. But while it is interesting
thus to compare the tasks of two navies by comparing the lengths
of coast line, populations, wealth, and areas of their countries,
or their distances from possible antagonists, such comparisons are
really misleading; for the reason that all nations are on a par
in regard to the paramount element of national defense, which is
defense of national policy. It was as important to Belgium as it
was to Germany to maintain the national policy, and the army of
Belgium was approximately as strong as that of Germany in proportion
to her wealth, area, and population; but nevertheless the Belgium
army was routed, and Belgium was conquered by the German army.

Much has been written to prove that the sole reason for the possession
of the paramount navy by Great Britain is that the soil of Great
Britain cannot support her people. In an essay, entitled "Naval
Power," which I contributed to the _United States Naval Institute_
in 1911, the fallacy of this was shown; and it was pointed out that
even if Great Britain grew more than enough to feed her people,
life could be made unendurable to the 60,000,000 living there (or to
the people in any civilized and isolated country) by an effective
blockading fleet. _The question of how great a navy any country needs
depends, not on the size, but on the policies of that country, and
on the navies of the countries that may oppose those policies_. The
navy that a country needs is a navy that can defend its policies,
both offensively and defensively. If, for instance, the United States
does not wish to enforce any policy that Great Britain would oppose,
or to oppose any policy that Great Britain would enforce, then we
may leave her navy out of consideration. But if we decide that we
must maintain a certain policy which a certain country may oppose,
then we must h