The 3,000 miles that separate the United States from Europe can be traversed by a fleet more powerful than ours in from two to three weeks; and the fleet would probably arrive on our shores in good condition, and manned by full crews of well-trained officers and men, habituated to their duties by recent practice and thoroughly ready to fight, as the Shannon was.  We could not meet this fleet successfully unless we met it with a fleet more militarily effective; and we could not do this unless we had in the regular service and the reserve a personnel of officers and men sufficiently numerous to man immediately all the vessels that would be needed, and to man in addition all the shore stations, which would have to be expanded to a war basis.  The officers and enlisted men, of course, would have to be at least as well trained as the corresponding personnel in the attacking fleet, and have as recent and thorough practice in their respective duties; for otherwise, no matter how brave and devoted they might be, the fate of the American fleet would be the fate of the Chesapeake.

In order to be ready when war breaks, the first essential is a plan for preparation.  Preparation is divided naturally into two parts:  first, preparation of sufficient material and personnel; second, preparation of plans for the conduct of the war after it has begun.  These two parts are both considered in what are technically called “War Plans.”

Preparation for war has always been known to be essential.  Lack of preparation has never been due to lack of knowledge, but always to neglect.  The difference between the wise and the foolish virgins was not a difference in knowledge but a difference in character.  The difference between Alexander’s little army and the tremendous army of Darius was not so much in numbers as in preparedness.  Trained under Philip of Macedon for many years, organized for conquest and aggression, prepared to meet any situation that might arise, Philip’s army carried Philip’s son from victory to victory, and made him the master of the world.  Caesar was great in peace as well as war, but it was by Caesar’s army that Caesar’s greatness was established; and it was a thoroughness of preparation unknown before that made Caesar’s army great.  Napoleon’s successes were built on the splendid preparation of a mind transcendently fitted to grasp both principles and details, and on the comparatively unprepared state of his opponents.

The Great Elector began in 1640 a course of laborious and scientific preparation which committed all Prussia, as well as the army, to acquiring what now we call “efficiency.”  As this plan developed, especially under the Elector’s grandson King Frederick William, the next King found himself, as Alexander had done, the chief of an army more highly prepared for war than any other.  By means of that army he made himself Frederick the Great, and raised Prussia from a minor position to the first