Originally Posted by
pr00ne
There was never any intention to include an aircraft carrier as part of Force Z. Churchill called for one to be based on Singapore but the Admiralty disagreed, and the Admiral in place, Pound, only ever envisaged one being in place by summer 1942, and that in the event of war it would have withdrawn to Ceylon.
IF a carrier had been with Force Z then the only difference in the outcome would have been the loss of a carrier as well as the other 2 capital ships.
12 Swordfish and a similar number of Fulmars would have made no difference.
The Japanese proved quite adept at sinking RN aircraft carriers, and they would have done similar to one included in Force Z, had one been planned, which it wasn’t.
Pretty sure the only RN carrier the Japanese sank was the Hermes which was hardly surprising given her air group of ~12 Swordfish. Certainly the crew of Indomitable thought they were heading East when a collision with Jamaica changed the plan, see Sea Flight by Hugh Popham. Of course the Admiralty knowing slightly more about naval warfare than Churchill planned to base Force Z in Ceylon to act as a fleet in being and complicate the Japanese thinking, see Tirpitz sitting in Norway for most of the war and tying down a huge chink of the Home Fleet.
Oddly enough Fulmars were the RN's highest scoring fighter of WW2, being used to break up Italian raids in the Med to reduce their effectiveness, which may have worked in defending Force Z given the nature of the attacking force on that fateful day.