battleship, it could not be replaced. The issue of the war, as a whole
and in every locality to which it extended, depended upon naval force,
and it was imperative to achieve, not success only, but success
delayed no longer than necessary. A million of the best soldiers would
have been powerless in face of hostile control of the sea. Dewey had
not a battleship, but there can be no doubt that that capable admiral
thought he ought to have one or more; and so he ought, if we had had
them to spare. The two monitors would be something, doubtless, when
they arrived; but, like all their class, they lacked mobility.

When Camara started by way of Suez for the East, it was no more
evident than it was before that we ought to have battleships there.
That was perfectly plain from the beginning; but battleships no more
than men can be in two places at once, and until Camara's movement had
passed beyond the chance of turning west, the Spanish fleet in the
Peninsula had, as regarded the two fields of war, the West Indies and
the Philippines, the recognized military advantage of an interior
position. In accepting inferiority in the East, and concentrating our
available force in the West Indies, thereby ensuring a superiority
over any possible combination of Spanish vessels in the latter
quarter, the Department acted rightly and in accordance with sound
military precedent; but it must be remembered that the Spanish Navy
was not the only possibility of the day. The writer was not in a
position to know then, and does not know now, what weight the United
States Government attached to the current rumors of possible political
friction with other states whose people were notoriously sympathizers
with our enemy. The public knows as much about that as he does; but it
was clear that if a disposition to interfere did exist anywhere, it
would not be lessened by a serious naval disaster to us, such as the
loss of one of our few battleships would be. Just as in the
maintenance of a technically "effective" blockade of the Cuban ports,
so, also, in sustaining the entireness and vigor of the battle fleet,
the attitude of foreign Powers as well as the strength of the
immediate enemy had to be considered. For such reasons it was
recommended that the orders on this point to Admiral Sampson should be
peremptory; not that any doubt existed as to the discretion of that
officer, who justly characterized the proposition to throw the ships
upon the mine fields