The U.S. 0ccupation of the Hawaiian Kingdom
Captain Mahan stated to the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs:
- ìIt is obvious that if we do not hold the islands ourselves we can not expect the neutrals in the war to prevent the other belligerent from occupying them; nor can the inhabitants themselves prevent such occupation. The commercial value is not great enough to provoke neutral interposition. In short, in war we should need a larger Navy to defend the Pacific coast, because we should have not only to defend our coast, but to prevent, by naval force, an enemy from occupying the islands; whereas, if we pre-occupied them, fortifications could preserve them to us. In my opinion it is not practicable for any trans-Pacific country to invade our Pacific coast without occupying Hawaii as a base.î (emphasis added)