uitable base even
more imperiously than do ships and other rugged things.

That the vessels anchored in the base should be protected from
the fire of ships at sea and from guns on neighboring shores is
clear. Therefore, even if a base be hidden from the sea and far
from it as is the harbor of Santiago, it must be protected by guns,
or mines, or both; the guns being nearer to the enemy than are the
ships in the waters of the base. An island having high bluffs,
where large guns can be installed, and approached by gradually
shoaling waters in which mines can be anchored, with deeper water
outside in which submarines can operate, is desirable from this
point of view.

Ability to store and protect large quantities of provisions is
essential, and especially in the case of ammunition and high explosives.
For storing the latter, a hilly terrain has advantages, since tunnels
can be run horizontally into hills, where explosives can lie safe
from attack, even attack from aircraft dropping bombs above them.

Naturally, the country that has led the world in the matter of
naval bases is Great Britain; and the world at large has hardly
yet risen to a realization of the enduring work that she has been
quietly doing for two hundred years, in establishing and fortifying
commodious resting-places for her war-ships and merchant ships in
all the seas. While other nations have been devoting themselves
to arranging and developing the interiors of their countries, Great
Britain has searched all the oceans, has explored all the coasts,
has established colonies and trading stations everywhere, and formed
a network of intimate commercial relations which covers the world
and radiates from London. To protect her commercial stations and
her merchant ships from unfair dealings in time of peace, and from
capture in time of war, and to threaten all rivals with defeat
should they resort to war, Great Britain has built up the greatest
navy in the world. And as this navy pervades the world, and as her
merchant ships dot every sea and display Great Britain's ensign
in every port, Great Britain has not failed to provide for their
safety and support a series of naval stations that belt the globe.

Bases are of many kinds, and may be divided into many classes.
An evident ground for division is that of locality in relation
to the home country. Looked at from this point of view, we may
divide naval bases into two classes, home bases and distant bases.

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