o adequacy.
There is no real usefulness in having a naval base anywhere, unless
that naval base can accomplish the purpose for which it is desired.
A naval base is desired for purposes of war, and for no other purpose
whatever; and to decide on a position for a base without keeping
this fact clearly in view, is to act on an underestimate of the
situation, the folly of which has been pointed out in previous
pages.

We may conclude, then, that in deciding on the place for a distant
permanent naval base, on which the operations of a whole fleet
are to base for war, we should select the best site available,
even if military strength and resources may have to be added to
it artificially--unless in the case of any site considered the
difficulties of adding them are insuperable.

The last sentence may seem like shirking the whole question, because
it does not state what "insuperable" means; so it may be well to add
that in modern days few engineering difficulties are insuperable, as
the existence of the fortress at Heligoland shows. If the submarine
and the mine did not exist, the difficulties would be greater than
they actually are; because guns alone, no matter how carefully mounted
and protected, could hardly be expected to keep off indefinitely the
attack of a heavy fleet, or even to save from injury the fighting
and auxiliary vessels anchored in its waters. But the submarine
and mine combine to keep fighting ships at distances greater than
those over which ship's guns can fire, and reduce the amount of
fortification required on shore.

One of the principal sources of expense in establishing bases at
some points would be that of dredging out harbors sufficiently
extensive, while harbors sufficiently extensive are provided already
by nature in such localities as Samana. But, as pointed out before,
harbors on large islands can be taken from the land side, as was
Port Arthur; and adequate protection from land attack is, in many
cases, almost impossible if the enemy has command of the sea, as
a superior hostile fleet would have in the Caribbean; while the
hills and waters of Culebra and Vieques Sound could long defy not
only actual invasion, but any fleet attack.

This brings us face to face with the fact that it may be less expensive
to establish and protect a naval base situated on a little island,
even if an artificial harbor has to be constructed, than to establish
and protect a base on a large island, even if the ba