Why Britain did not need a torpedo-boat carrier in Southeast Asia

How useful would a torpedo-boat tender or carrier be in Britain's Southeast Asia war plan?

Not very useful before the base network collapsed, because destroyer tenders and established facilities already supported the craft Britain preferred.

The Royal Navy relied more on destroyers and destroyer escorts than on large numbers of motor torpedo boats in this theater. It already possessed tenders capable of supporting those craft and expected to operate through a chain of established bases. A generic small-craft tender could help at distance, but a specialized torpedo-boat carrier offered little additional value. The requirement would become stronger only after the loss of bases forced British forces into the long-range support problem later faced by the Pacific Fleet.