A weakened Italian fleet lets British heavy units move to Aden, Djibouti, Ceylon, Australia, or farther east while remaining available to return to the Mediterranean. Japan must account for several carriers and capital ships in the Indian Ocean during its 1940 and 1941 planning. If French Indochina remains Allied, Japan cannot occupy it without starting a wider war before the Kido Butai is fully organized and worked up. The eastward deployment therefore changes both the forces Japan faces and the timing assumptions behind a southern advance.
Chapter · 1:38:26-1:41:10
An Allied fleet reaches the Indian Ocean early
British capital ships and carriers freed from the Mediterranean become a planning problem for Japan before December 1941.