material and personnel. Inasmuch as a naval base is purely a means
for expending energy for military purposes, and has no other cause
for its existence, it is clear that it cannot be self-supporting.
For this reason it is highly desirable that a naval base shall be
near a great city, especially if that city be a large commercial
and manufacturing centre.

It is true that many large naval bases, such as Malta and Gibraltar
are not near great cities; and it is true that most large naval
bases have no facilities for building ships. But it is also true
that few large naval bases fulfil all the requirements of a perfect
naval base; in fact it is true that none do.

The most obvious requirement of a naval base is a large sheet of
sheltered water, in which colliers and oil-carriers may lie and
give coal and oil to fighting craft, and in which those fighting
craft may lie tranquilly at anchor, and carry on the simple and yet
necessary repairs and adjustments to machinery that every cruising
vessel needs at intervals. Without the ability to fuel and repair,
no fleet could continue long at work, any more than a man could do
so, without food and the repairs which nature carries on in sleep.
The coming of oil fuel and the consequent ease of fuelling, the
practicability even of fuelling in moderate weather when actually
at sea, subtract partially one of the reasons for naval bases; but
they leave the other reasons still existent, especially the reasons
connected with machinery repairs. The principal repair, and the one
most difficult to furnish, is that given by docking in suitable
docks. The size and expense of docks capable of carrying dreadnaughts
and battle cruisers are so great, and their vulnerability to fire
from ships and from aircraft is so extreme, that the matter of
dry-docks is perhaps the most troublesome single matter connected
with a naval base.

The necessity of anchorage areas for submarines is a requirement of
naval bases that has only recently been felt; and the present war
shows a still newer requirement in suitable grounds for aircraft.
The speed of aircraft, however, is so great that little delay or
embarrassment would result if the camp for aircraft were not at the
base itself. Instead of the camp being on Culebra, for instance,
it might well be on Porto Rico. The extreme delicacy of aircraft,
however, and the necessity for quick attention in case of injuries,
especially injuries to the engine, demand a s