Fleet Problem IX revealed both carrier power and vulnerability

What do people overlook when discussing aircraft carriers?

Carrier vulnerability has been a concern since the type's beginnings. Fleet Problem IX showed that striking power and vulnerability coexist, so the continuing problem is how to protect and employ carriers effectively as threats change.

Washington Naval Treaty limits constrained battleship and cruiser construction, leaving aircraft carriers as an important field for experimentation. The US Navy tested ideas developed through war gaming at Newport in its interwar Fleet Problems. In 1929, Fleet Problem IX gave each side a carrier, Saratoga and Lexington. Saratoga separated from the fleet with a single cruiser and launched a surprise mass strike that the exercise judges credited with closing the Panama Canal. The opposing force then found the isolated carrier and was judged to have destroyed it. Aviators saw the carrier's striking power, while surface officers saw the consequences of inadequate protection. Both conclusions informed the continuing task of balancing offensive reach, defensive support and intelligent employment. Armstrong accepts that carriers could eventually require fundamental replacement, as earlier dominant warship types did, but remains unconvinced that the threats discussed establish that moment has arrived.