British and Japanese Fleets Engage in 1942

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HMS Truant and HMS Trusty

Okay, I know HMS Truant was in the region at the time, not sure about HMS Trusty but I know that ship did go to the Far East.

If they where both homeported out of Ceylon around early 1942, could one or both of these boats have been sent out to look for and try to attack the Japanese fleet?
 
I`d be interested to know how much accurate intel the British had during the IO raid? The Blenhiem raid from Ceylon found and attacked Nagumo, so at least at that point the British knew where he was. Did they know where he was at other times, has any research been done to match British intel assumptions with Nagumos actual movements?
 
Do the British have any submarines in the Indian Ocean by late March, going into April of 1942?

I know by the time of Pearl Harbor all of their submarines have been pulled closer to home in the Atlantic and Meditteranean.

That being said, if they even have one or two boats in the Indian Ocean, perhaps one of them might get lucky and find Nagumo.

Trusty and Truant

http://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/3504.html

http://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/3494.html

There is an interesting story in the Naval Fiction section on Warships 1 called Parthian shot where thanks to an intelligence break, Trusty and Truant ambush the Japanese carrier force in the Malacca Strait returning from the Indian Ocean and get some good results.
 
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That sort of luck could have occured in a bunch of situations, starting with the Japanese dropping a flare over their own heavy cruiser force while Force Z was 9km away.
 
So, if we assume that there's an engagement, and both British carriers are sunk, along with several other ships, and perhaps one Japanese carrier is damaged or perhaps destroyed, along with several other ships. What impact does this have on the rest of the war? Do the British pull more naval power out of the Atlantic/North Sea? What happens as a result of that?
 
So, if we assume that there's an engagement, and both British carriers are sunk, along with several other ships, and perhaps one Japanese carrier is damaged or perhaps destroyed, along with several other ships. What impact does this have on the rest of the war? Do the British pull more naval power out of the Atlantic/North Sea? What happens as a result of that?

If a battle had occured where the British had lost their 2 fleet carriers and the IJN lost 1 and another major warship or 2 I think Operation Ironclad would be called off. Firstly the British could justify that the Japanese had turned back to the pacific because of the losses in battle, that they had a glass jaw so to speak, and couldn`t get a foothold in Madagascar. Secondly the 2 carriers which would have undertaken Ironclad were now at the bottom of the sea making the operation too hard.
 
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