The Meaning of Disasters

All the isolated disasters were so absorbing, one by one, that it was very easy to miss their cataclysmic total: The Axis, in one sudden week, emerged as a great combination of sea power.

U.S.-British supremacy depends upon command of the world's strategic narrows and ports and deeps. Last week the command was challenged.

The fall of Singapore opened the Indian Ocean to the Axis. The escape of three German ships from Brest meant that the German Fleet was something to reckon with. The wavering of Vichy reminded the world that France's Fleet is the balance of the world's seapower. The strength of Field Marshal Rommel in Africa, and Winston Churchill's admission in his speech that "the Mediterranean is closed," showed that the Italian Navy was not exhausted.

Of the great straits which bottleneck the seas, only two remain exclusively under Allied control. Both are man-made straits. The Suez Canal serves to keep the Axis Navies apart. The Panama Canal serves to keep the U.S. Navy together. The loss of both or either of those canals might give the combined enemy worldwide naval parity. Without naval supremacy, expeditionary forces stay home.

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