Would it have made sense to station a substantial Royal Navy force at Pearl Harbor before the attack?
Short answerNo. British bases nearer Singapore and the Indian Ocean offered better support, while Pearl Harbor's limited logistics were already committed to the U.S. fleet.
NotesForce Z or another British fleet had little reason to base routinely at Pearl Harbor. The United States already had battleships and carriers there, while the base's limited support capacity and tanker pool would be crowded by ships with different operating ranges. Britain possessed established infrastructure at Trincomalee, Bombay, Singapore, and Australian ports closer to its likely theater. A combined Anglo-American fleet could meet around the Philippines when operations required it without permanently adding British demands to Pearl Harbor.