Page 311 - The interest of America in sea power, present and future

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Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. 289

only a little more than a hundred miles of
fairly easy country. Regarded, therefore, as a
base of naval operations, as a source of sup
plies to a fleet, Cuba presents a condition
wholly unique among the islands of the Carib-
bean and of the Gulf of Mexico ; to both which
it, and it alone of all the archipelago, belongs.
It is unique in its size, which should render it
largely self-supporting, either by its own prod-
ucts, or by the accumulation of foreign neces-
saries which naturally obtains in a large and
prosperous maritime community; and it is
unique in that such supplies can be conveyed
from one point to the other, according to the
needs of a fleet, by interior lines, not exposed to
risks of maritime capture. The extent of the
coast-line, the numerous harbors, and the many
directions from which approach can be made,
minimize the dangers of total blockade, to
which all islands are subject. Such conditions
are in themselves advantageous, but they are
especially so to a navy inferior to its adversary,
for they convey the power— subject, of course,
to conditions of skill — of shifting operations
from side to side, and finding refuge and sup-
plies in either direction.
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