The most vital and probably the most vulnerable points of the Canal are the great locks. These have dividing walls, double gates, operated by delicate electrical machinery, emergency dams and floating caissons—all offering an admirable and non-coverable target from the air
Canal has been constructed largely to remedy this weakness.
As early as 1901, the Isthmian Canal Commission said in its report: "It is the opinion of the Commission that a neutral canal, operated and controlled by American citizens, would materially add to the military strength of the United States; that a canal, whether neutral or not, controlled by foreigners, would be a source of weakness to the United States, rather than of strength; and that a canal not neutral, to be defended by the United States, whether by fortifications by land, or by the navy at sea, would be a source of weakness."
Whether right or wrong, we have decided to make the Canal non-neutral and to strongly fortify it. Thus the Canal be comes probably the most important strategic part of our coast-line, and it does not require military training to see that, in case of war with a first-class power, the enemy would very likely strike first at the Canal and attempt to keep our naval forces divided. Even now, it is necessary to keep a fleet on each ocean and, doubtless, after the Canal is opened, these fleets will be greatly augmented and of about equal strength.
The main fortifications are being placed on islands near the Pacific entrance to the Canal and on a headland near the Atlantic entrance, in order that an enemy's fleet may not approach the shore within bombarding distance of the locks and dams. These fortifications are among the strongest in the world, and comprise batteries of 14-inch mortars and disappearing guns, supplemented with a 16-inch gun, the most powerful weapon of any army. Auxiliary batteries of light rapid-fire guns probably will be located on the hills near the locks and dams, as a precaution against land attacks. In addition to troops to man the fortifications, it will undoubtedly be necessary to maintain a large force of troops there on a war footing, in order to police the Canal Zone and to provide against attacks by land, for modern warfare strikes quickly and it might be difficult or impossible to transport troops from the United States, after the breaking out of hostilities. Our neighbors to the north and south of the Canal are none too friendly and, if the Zone were not thoroughly policed, partisans of the enemy might produce havoc to locks and dams with dynamite. Colonel Goethals,
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