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pi. \
somewhat less reliably.
If that were the sole function remaining to the Mavy,
the maintenance of hugh fleets would hardly be justificd.
One must consider also
the possible offensive value of a fleet which has atomic bombs at its disposal.
It was argued in the previous chaptcr that the atoric bomb enormously extends
the effective range of bombing aircraft, ana that even today the cities of every
great powor are inside cffective bombing range of planes based on the territorics
of any other great power.
The future development of aircraft will no doubt make
bombing at six and seven thousand miles range even more feasible than it is today,
and the tendency towards even higher cruising altitudes will ultimatcly bring
planes above the levels where weather hazards arc an important barrier to long
flights.
The ability to bring one's planes relatively close to the target before
launching them, as naval carrier forces are abletodo, must certainly diminish
in military importance,
Eut it will not whollfecvase bo be important, even for
atomic bombs; and if the enphasis in vehicles Seensptea from aircraft to lLong-
range rockets, there will again be an ecnorztious advantage in having one's missiles
close to the target.
Even more important, perhaps, is the fact that a fleet ct sea is not casily
located and even less casily destroyed,
The ability to retaliate if attacked is
certainly enhanced by having a bomb-launchine base which cannot be plotted on a
map.
A fleet armed with atomic bombs which had disappeared into the vastness of
the seas during a crisis would be just one additional element to give pause to an
aggressor,
It must, however, be again rcpeated that the possession of such a
fleet or of advanced bases will not be essential to the execution of bombing
missions at extreme ranges.
If there showld be a war in which atomic bombs were not used--a possibility
which must always be provided against-——the fleet would retain all the functions
it has ever exercised.
We kmow also that there are certain policing obligations
entailed in various Ancrican cormitments, especially that of the United Nations
Organization,
The idea of using atomic bombs for such policing operations, as
Ge