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The Caribbean was strategically significant because of Venezuelan oil fields in the southeast and the Panama Canal in the southwest. The Royal Dutch Shell refinery on Dutch-owned Curaçao, processing eleven million barrels per month, was the largest oil refinery in the world; the refinery at Pointe-à-Pierre was the largest in the British Empire; and there was another large refinery on Dutch-owned Aruba. The British Isles required four oil tankers of petroleum daily during the early war years, and most of it came from Venezuela, through Curaçao, after Italy blocked passage through the Mediterranean Sea from the Middle East.〔Kelshall, Gaylord T.M. ''The U-Boat War in the Caribbean'' United States Naval Institute Press (1994) ISBN 1-55750-452-0 pp.7-22〕 The Caribbean held additional strategic significance to the United States. The United States' Gulf of Mexico coastline, including petroleum facilities and Mississippi River trade, could be defended at two points. The United States was well positioned to defend the Straits of Florida but was less able to prevent access from the Caribbean through the Yucatán Channel. Bauxite was the preferred ore for aluminum, and one of the few strategic raw materials not available within the continental United States. United States military aircraft production depended upon bauxite imported from the Guianas along shipping routes paralleling the Lesser Antilles. The United States defended the Panama Canal with 189 bombers and 202 fighters, and based submarines at Colón, Panama and at Submarine Base, Crown Bay, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.〔 The Navy Department Library: Building the Navy's Bases in World War II, History of the Bureau of Yards and Docks and the Civil Engineer Corps 1940-1946, Volume II, Part III, The Advance Bases: Chapter XVIII: Bases in South America and the Caribbean Area, Including Bermuda〕〔Kelshall, Gaylord T.M. ''The U-Boat War in the Caribbean'' United States Naval Institute Press (1994) ISBN 1-55750-452-0 pp.7-18〕 United States Navy VP-51 Consolidated PBY Catalinas began neutrality patrols along the Lesser Antillies from San Juan, Puerto Rico on 13 September 1939; and facilities were upgraded at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and at Naval Air Station Key West.〔Scarborough, William E. "The Neutralitv Patrol: To Keep Us Out of World War II?" pp.18-23 ''NAVAL AVIATION NEWS'' March–April 1990〕 The United Kingdom based No. 749, 750, 752 and 793 Naval Air Squadrons at Piarco International Airport on Trinidad. British troops occupied Aruba, Curaçao and Bonaire soon after the Netherlands were captured by Nazi Germany. The French island of Martinique was perceived as a possible base for Axis ships as British relationships with Vichy France deteriorated following the Second Armistice at Compiègne. The September 1940 Destroyers for Bases Agreement enabled the United States to build airfields in British Guiana, and on the islands of Great Exuma, Trinidad, Antigua, and Saint Lucia. On 11 February 1942, United States forces replaced British soldiers on the Dutch refinery islands and began operating Douglas A-20 Havocs from Hato Field on Curaçao and Dakota Field on Aruba.〔Kelshall, Gaylord T.M. ''The U-Boat War in the Caribbean'' United States Naval Institute Press (1994) ISBN 1-55750-452-0 pp.4-24〕 ==Axis operations== 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Battle of the Caribbean」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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