Japanese expectations of British armored carriers

Did Japanese planners understand that British armored carriers were designed to withstand the kinds of attacks being made against them?

Not fully, and German and Italian claims to have sunk several British carriers further confused the picture.

British armored carriers had been designed with heavy air attack in mind. Japanese expectations also drew on German and Italian claims that some of those ships had already been sunk. Illustrious, Victorious, and Formidable nevertheless appeared in the Pacific as operational carriers. Their survival exposed the unreliability of repeated Axis sinking claims.