296 U.S. BATTLESHIP " IOWA.

CHAPTER XIX THE BOMBARDMENT OF SAN JUAN so clearly set forth'by Captain Mahan— the chief living exponent of naval strategy— that his statement may be quoted here in his own words. Writing on the naval lessons of the war, anddealing with theproblem of the choice of anobjective for the fleet at the outbreak of hostilities, he says :— AS we have seen, popular opinion in America looked on an attack upon Havana as the operation with which the naval war would begin. Expert opinion had selected another objective. The great island of Puerto Rico, with its fortified harbour of San Juan, was a point which the Spanish fleet might make its base of operations in the Western seas. The Spanish garrison, under General Machias,had been busy strengthening the batteries and preparing for a siege, and rumour spoke of the harbour as the point where Cervera's fleet would coal, and of other suppliesawaiting it when itcrossed the Atlantic. The garrison of the island was small compared to thelarge armyunder Marshal Bianco's command in Cuba. Its reduction wouldnot be such a formidable and costlyoperation as the invasion of the larger island,and although there wasno movement against Spanish ruleiri Puerto Rico, its conquest wouldbe of the highest importance for the development of the naval power of the United States.

"It wouldhave beenopen to urge that Puerto Rico, being between five and six hundred miles from the eastern end ofCuba, andnearly double that distance from the two ports of the island most important to Spain— Havana on the north and Cienfuegos on the south— would be invaluable to the mother country as an intermediate naval station, and as a basis of supplies and reinforcementsfor both her fleetand army ; that, if left in her undisturbed possession, it would enable her,practically, to enjoy the same advantage of nearness to thegreat sceneofoperations that theUnited States hadin virtue of our geographical situation;and thattherefore the first objective of the war should be theeasternisland, and its reduction the first object. The effect of this would have been to throw Spain back The strategicalvalue of Puerto Rico has been