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The main problem was one of attack and defense of the Panama Canal. Blue's fleet was in the Atlantic and controlled the Canal. Black's fleet was off the coast of California. Black's mission was to attempt to destroy the Canal before Blue could get his fleet though. Blue got four battleships, scout cruisers, destroyers, submarines and the aircraft carrier, Lexington, through the Canal on January 22, and this force, represented by the Scouting Fleet, was to protect the Canal until January 27 when Blue's main body would arrive. Black, represented by the Battle Fleet, a vastly superior force, with the aircraft carriers, Langley and Saratoga, would try to destroy the Canal before Blue's main fleet could get through. Blue, being inferior in the Pacific, must try to delay Black by harrassing him. 
This problem brought aviation into great prominence. Black could win easily if he could deliver an air attack from his carrier on the Canal without endangering his main body. Blue's every effort must be to prevent this. It rapidly developed into a duel between the carriers of the respective fleets. Blue's carrier attempted to destroy Black's and Black's carrier attempted to get to the Canal without a clash with Blue. Both carriers, with their higher speed, were in little danger from opposing battleships and could hold their own with cruisers or destroyers. Due to his speed, Black's carrier could lie as far as twelve hundred miles off the Canal, start in after dark and approach within two hundred miles of the canal, launch planes and deliver their attack at daylight; the carrier, in the meantime, moving up to receive the planes after the attack was completed. The only defense against this was to destroy Black's carrier before she got her planes off, or to intercept the planes. The latter would require a vastly superior force and luck in establishing contact.
This presented Blue with an almost impossible situation. His only hope was to locate the Saratoga and destroy her before she could get within striking distance of the Canal, and his main weapon for this purpose was his own carrier.
Black sent his carrier seven or eight hundred miles south of Panama by a wide detour and left her there until the night of January 25. She was located and reported by a Blue scout that afternoon and was trailed. The Blue carrier was immediately dispatched to intercept her. Due to the darkness, the Lexington missed the Saratoga until just before daylight. Planes were immediately launched, and attacked her, but not until her planes had been launched and were well on their way to delliver their attack on the Canal. The Saratoga's planes delivered an attack on the Canal in two sections. The first, composed of light bombers and fighters, engaged the defenses while the second, composed of heavy bombers and fighters, approached from inland and delivered a delayed attack. The second section was given no opposition by the defense. Both attacks were successful.
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