What if Dutch submarines caught Japan's carrier force?

What if Dutch submarines had intercepted and sunk five Japanese carriers in December 1941?

It would have sharply checked Japan's advance and transformed Allied freedom of action in the Pacific.

The counterfactual removes much of Japan's early carrier striking power at once. That loss would pause the advance and reduce the threat to Australia. American carriers and other Allied capital ships would gain far more freedom to operate without the same concentration of Japanese carrier aviation. Dutch submariners had the skill to carry out such an ambush, although the scenario was unlikely.