Word: canal
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...Panama Canal can be attacked in three general ways: 1) enemy saboteurs might block its locks or destroy its gates by blowing up a shipful of explosives on an apparently peaceful transit of the Ditch; 2) bombers launched from an enemy carrier at sea might succeed in a surprise raid in smashing lock machinery or breaching the great dam of Gatun Lake, thereby draining the Canal of water; 3) having gained a foothold in the Caribbean area, an enemy might go about systematic destruction of the Canal with large-scale attacks...
...first attempt he might well fail for good. But operating from bases in the Caribbean he could go about his business much more methodically. The only effective defense is to keep him at a distance. Hence the second paradox of defense. The best way to defend the Canal is to defend seas 1,000 to 2,000 miles beyond the Canal...
...spotting and striking at any invader as close to his European base as possible. But while the islands make one of the world's finest strategic assets, they are also great potential liabilities. An enemy with a toe hold on the Caribbean not only might close the Canal and shut off the Fleet in the Pacific; by destroying the Canal he might also cut off naval elements in the Atlantic from the Navy's great base on the Pacific side of the Canal at Balboa. And while the Pacific Fleet was exhausting fuel and losing time going around...
...communications to the Caribbean lie south along the U. S. coast from the Atlantic seaboard, across the Gulf of Mexico (a near-impregnable American lake) from the oil centres at New Orleans, Houston, Galveston, and down Mexico's coast via the Canal from the Pacific. U. S. bases along these routes are indicated by U. S. flags, foreign bases by anchors. Air bases in the area are indicated by airplanes -red for land craft, blue for seaplanes...
...field is a good base for Navy or Army aircraft. It has no dry docks or major repair facilities. Disabled first-line battleships would have to go north to Norfolk or Philadelphia or pass through the Canal to Balboa for dry-dock repairs. In an emergency the Canal's locks could be used as dry docks...