naval actions as were fought in the late war, in which both the gunnery and the seamanship of the Germans were excellent, there can be little doubt that with such great odds against us, we should be defeated. Had the Congress in past years seen fit to listen to the warnings of the Board, and built up a fleet sufficient for the defence of the United States, we should have been prepared at this hour to match ship with ship and gun with gun.
"The seriousness of the situation is aggravated by the fact that all of the ships of our pre-dreadnought classes in commission are now distributed in the various ports of the Pacific Coast, and therefore will not be available to meet that swift attack which the enemy would undoubtedly make immediately upon the declaration of war. This division of the fleet was opposed to the very first principles of naval strategy, and it was done against the strongest protest of
