Page 212 - The interest of America in sea power, present and future

Preparedness for Naval War. 193

assumption of a simple defensive in war is
ruin. War, once declared, must be waged
offensively, aggressively. The enemy must not
be fended off, but smitten down. You may
then spare him every exaction, relinquish every
gain ; but till down he must be struck inces-
santly and remorselessly.
Preparation, like most other things, is a
question both of kind and of degree, of quality
and of quantity. As regards degree, the
general lines upon which it is determined
have been indicated broadly in the preceding
part of this article. The measure of degree
is the estimated force which the strongest
probable enemy can bring against you, allow-
ance being made for clear drawbacks upon
his total force, imposed by his own embarrass-
ments and responsibilities in other parts of
the world. The calculation is partly military,
partly political, the latter, however, being the
dominant factor in the premises.
In kind, preparation is twofold, — defensive
and offensive. The former exists chiefly for
the sake of the latter, in order that offence,
the determining factor in war, may put forth
its full power, unhampered by concern for the
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