Fleet problems make the carrier a strike weapon

The fleet problems show the Lexingtons shaping US carrier practice before the Pacific War. Fleet Problem XII placed them at the center of a heavy aviation defense of the Panama Canal, but they were judged to have approached the enemy surface force too closely. Fleet Problem XIII became a contest over which side could destroy the opposing carrier first. Information, strike, air defense, and locating the enemy fleet had become inseparable. Repeated attacks on Hawaii and other bases showed that carriers could reach important targets and that basing decisions had to account for the threat. Admiral James Richardson opposed keeping the fleet at Hawaii after Fleet Problem XXI because he believed the base lacked the necessary security and defenses, a warning made sharper by what the exercises had already demonstrated.