Abstract

The Japanese-American War Myth

Behind the struggle over ratios at the forthcoming naval conference will lie the conviction that war between the U.S. and Japan is inevitable. Yet actually a war between the two countries would be about as feasible as military combat between Switzerland and Paraguay. How, for example, could either of them succeed in placing landing parties on the soil of the other? How many units in either the American or the Japanese navy can carry fuel and other essential supplies for a Pacific round trip, together with sufficient ammunition to enable them to engage in a serious naval conflict? Even if successful operations so far from their bases were possible for modern fleets, both sides would feel it necessary to keep back the main body of their naval forces for defense of their coasts.