fleet and cutting off the German Army from its base; and failing that, what are the prospects of our raising an army or armies of sufficient strength to defeat the land forces of the enemy and drive him back to the sea."
"So far as the naval situation is concerned," said the President of the General Board, "the case is hopeless. It became so on the fatal day when every dreadnought possessed by the American Navy was sunk in the Caribbean. For, although, in spite of the great odds against which we fought (10 ships against 22), eight of the enemy were sunk, they still have 14 ships of the dreadnought class off our coast, besides 10 ships of the pre-dreadnought class, to say nothing of strong divisions and flotillas of cruisers, destroyers, and submarines. Our own pre-dreadnought fleet is in the Pacific, and, because of the preponderance of the enemy in the At-
