Naval Defense Quotes
He was referring to attacking the Barbary States. The Barbary Pirates had an incredible extortion racket going in the Mediterranean. If nations would pay them an annual sum each year, they would not attack and seize merchant ships of that country and sell the ships and goods while holding the sailors for ransom. See {640846}.
He didn’t succeed until Mahan wrote his marvelous treatise.
He was referring to the Algerian Barbary Pirates who had an incredible extortion racket going in the Mediterranean. If nations would pay them an annual sum each year, they would not attack and seize merchant ships of that country and sell the ships and goods while holding the sailors for ransom. Ames was well known for his hyperbole and fear of all the worst possible consequences. He was in many ways like some of the Tea Party of the 21st century who saw immigrants taking over the country and Muslim terrorists in attack on the United States. The Algerians did not have the inclination, skill, or shipbuilding skill to handle trans-Atlantic travel.
The United States had no navy at that point.
Plan Orange was the code name of the united states plan for possible war with Japan. In this ironic quotation, American military planners realized five years before Pearl Harbor that surprise attack was the major vulnerability. We were surprised and had no help from our intelligence service which despite the recommendations was almost nonexistent.
