What was Operation C intended to achieve?

What was Operation C?

The Japanese carrier operation into the Indian Ocean aimed to draw out and destroy the British Eastern Fleet through attacks on Ceylon.

Operation C brought the Japanese carrier force into the Indian Ocean to destroy the British Eastern Fleet. Attacks on Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, were intended to draw that fleet into action. British message intercepts warned that the Japanese were coming. The original expected arrival date was correct, but Nagumo ran late and the revised schedule was missed. Somerville therefore prepared for a threat whose timing had changed.