Armchair Warriors by Joel R. Davidson

Author:Joel R. Davidson [Davidson, Joel R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781612515779
Publisher: Naval Institute Press

D. G., New Haven, CT14

With the Axis powers threatening to seize bases in Latin America and the Caribbean, the Panama Canal seemed more vulnerable than ever. This famous writer proposed a more secure route for moving ships between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans:

[Early 1941]

Panama Canal means sailing too far south. Too easily destroyed, not only by bombing aeroplane, but also by sabotage—a few spies each with a stick of dynamite. Ship Railway from Galveston to San Diego. Rises to high altitude, but can be without defiles and passes, and escape all large-city traffic. The multiple tracks—8, 12, 16 or more parallel standard tracks enable as large a load as desired to be carried. . . . This railway should cut one-third the time of transfer of the fleet from one ocean to the other—but always the largest argument is that while any portion of it that might be bombed can be quickly repaired, without holding up the entire system, the Panama Canal could easily be blocked entirely. The cost would be huge—but not much more than a new canal, and to safe-guard it, there is no need of acquiring such island bases as the country is now taking over. Should America be attacked through Mexico, this would be a better Maginot Line, with moveable fortresses, with large guns, meeting an emergency anywhere. Unlike the Maginot Line, these moveable units could not be turned into traps. With this line, we could build ships anywhere in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, along the line, and not just at easily reached and bombed ports on the seashore—always so few and so vulnerable. The railway would lessen the maintenance cost that would result if we have to build two big navies.

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