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Instead of Singapore and Malaya, what locations would have been ideal for basing Britain's 1930's naval and air power in the Pacific region? The goal remains to counter Japanese aggression against British territory in Asia, namely Malaya and northern Australia, so we don't want to go as far as Esquimalt, and Australia may be too isolated to contribute beyond its own defense.

I suggest Ceylon (4 days to Singapore at 15 knots) or Rangoon (provided rail link to Calcutta is completed). What do we think of northern Australia as the empire's primary base?

Great map of the empire's sea routes here https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe..._of_the_British_Empire_in_1886_(levelled).jpg

What do we think of northern Australia as the empire's primary base? If rail links are improved Darwin could be a good base for the BPF. At 15 knots Darwin is 5 days sailing from Singapore, 9 days from Calcutta. One problem with Darwin is it's almost unreachable by aircraft from other parts of the empire - even Singapore to Darwin is beyond the reach of RAF long range aircraft like the Short Sunderland.
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