And when KB reached the IO Sommerville thought the moment of danger had passed and had dispersed his fleet, unknowingly sending a CVL and two CA into harms way.
Markus,
Sorry, but no.
Somerville was aware of the
KB's presence in the IO as early as March 31st, the day that force entered the IO, thanks to SIGINT. He expected Ceylon to be attacked within the next 48 hours and thus withdrew to the Maldives in the hopes he could pull off the night attack we've been discussing. The IJN didn't follow Somerville's predictions however and spent the next two days shooting up everything that floated in the Bay of Bengal instead.
When Ceylon wasn't attacked, Somerville detached
Hermes with orders to return to Trincomalee for repairs. He compounded that error by sending along two heavy cruisers as an escort.
On April 4th, the
KB was spotted by a flying boat a few hundred miles
south of Ceylon. That aircraft got it's report off before being shot down. The next day, and depsite ample warnings, the
KB struck Columbo catching the RAF on the ground in part because British radars weren't manned on Sundays. On the same day, the
KB spotted and sank the two heavy cruisers I mentioned earlier a few hundred mile southwest of Ceylon.
Five days later on the 9th and
completely unmolested by RN hiding in the Maldives during the intervening time, the
KB hit Ceylon again. This time, they attacked from the north and the British somewhat heeded the various warnings they received.
Hermes left the harbor at Trincomalee before the strike, but chose to attempt to return too soon and sunk by the second wave of attackers.
After this attack, Somerville quit the Maldives and withdrew to Bombay.
The RN plan was to hit the
KB with a night torpedo attack launched from both carriers and shore bases. However, over the course of 10 days and despite SIGINT, the RN never found the
KB in time to do so. The only attack made on the
KB was a completely ineffectual RAF bomber strike on the 9th.
No, but if the IJN has the wrong idea where to look for the RN, they won´t find her, they didn´t in OTL and they certainly treid to.
The IJN counted on catching the RN in or off Ceylon and inflicting a Pearl-level ass kicking on them. While bugging out for the Maldives saved Somerville's fleet from destruction, it did not put that fleet in any position to attack the
KB. As illustrated by their woefully pathetic actions and reactions during the two
KB strikes on Ceylon, British C3I simply wasn't up to the tasks forced upon it.
Bill