NORTH PACIFIC.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 200, 23 August 1940, Page 6

NORTH PACIFIC.

ILS. DEFENCE WORK. JAP. AND RUSSIAN MOVES. (By ROYAL ARCH GUNNISON.) JUNEU, ALASKA, July 20. When, the largest part of the United States Navy pulled out of its anchorage at Hawaii recently—and the newspapers all speculated on where it had gone—it can now be stated on reliable authority that a portion of it headed north into waters adjacent to Alaska. "What is bo significant about that?" you may ask. Navy> men will look over their gold-. braided shoulders and reply, "Just routine manoeuvres." But anyone who follows War Eastern trends these days is keenly aware of the significance of United States naval vessels manoeuvring in the North Pacific. And to someone like this reporter, who has just covered about 4000 air miles of Alaska terrain and coastline on the Alaska Clipper, and who hae talked with experienced Alaskan defence authorities, these additional mid-summer Pacific-Alaskan manoeuvres mean but one thing. While the United States naval bases at Sitka, Kodiak, and Dutch Harbour may not be ready for regular service action for at least 18 months, the Naval High Command ie showing any nations directly or indirectly "interested" that it is possible to put on more than a "paper defence" of the North Pacific from the strong Pearl Harbour base at Hawaii. Of course, when the Alaska bases are finished this defence should be close to impregnable. Alaska's Vulnerability. Washington dispatches to-day stated that Major-General Henry H. Arnold, Chief of the >Army Air Corps, and members of his staff have'left on a tenday flying trip to inspect the new air bases in Alaska. Never in the last 20 years have naval manoeuvres been carried out with euch seriousness, and never in the history of the North Pacific and Alaska have the "problems" (operations) of the manoeuvres been considered of such strategic importance to North America. My trip to Alaska and the speed with which I was able, to get around over this vast territory by aeroplane have shown two unmistakable facts. 1. The territory of Alaska at this time is particularly vulnerable to attack from without and open to sabotage and espionage from within. 2. Seldom, if ever, in the history of Uncle Sam's naval and military defence preparedness has such speed and efficiency been evidenced in large-scale defence construction. The army has cut red tape into ribbons in its construction of the 12,000,000 dollars Elmendorf field, near Anchorage; and the 5,000,000 dollars Ladd field at Fairbanks • The Sitka air and submarine base, which is the only operations point in the long south-eastern Alaska panhandle, has proceeded so swiftly that it is fully expected more than one' year's construction time will be cut from the project. The 3,000,000 dollar base should be ready for its full part in North Pacific defence by the end of next summer. What I discovered on my flight out to Nome—loo miles from the coast of Siberia—revealed that not . only the Japanese, but the Soviets are both con-

siderably ahead (perhaps as much as one year ahead) of our Alaskan-Canadian North Pacific defence mechanism. I also learned that they call their naval and military construction, ranging clear from Kamchatka to East Gape, "defence preparation." Against whom— each other? Quite possibly. But our High Naval Command, operating on a manoeuvre triangle from Pearl harbour directly north to the 13,000,000 dollar base at Kadiak Island and then westward over 1000 miles to the harbour of Kiska, at the top of the Aleutian Islands, is a sceptical lot. Hint to Asiatic Side. The High Naval Command also wants to be certain that the Japanese and the Soviet authorities know of the seriousness end the efficiency of America's air and ocean-borne naval operations, both north and south of the Aleutian chain. These manoeuvres will continue periodically until the Dutch harbour, Kodiak and Sitka baees are ready for action, and the United States Fleet is large enough to station a good portion of its tonnage on regular patrol in Alaskan and North Pacific waters. Governor Ernest Gruening, of Alaska, told me that,in the opinion of experts, south-eastern Alaska was the most vulnerable to "primary attack." Such attack would be based on a plan to cut Alaska off from the States. The enemy would then attempt to entrench itself in the myriad of islands and fiords of the "inside passage." Then the enemy would try to use what resources Alaska has, from fish to meagre agricultural produce, to keep it going while its fleet kept the sea lanes open for its own supply ships. This is why-naval officers, familiar with the Alaskan coastline recommend the use of speedy torpedo patrol boats, and are extremely gratified to note the effort to patrol the North Pacific by "routine manoeuvres" that nave twice taken a considerable portion of the fleet north of Hawaii this summer.—N.A.N.A.