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Early 1942, the British were attempting to re-establish a naval presence in Asia after the destruction of Z Force off Kuantan. Ceylon was chosen as the new main navy base, and Admiral Sir James Somerville was assigned to lead the new British Eastern Fleet. The carriers CV Indomitable, CV Formidable, and CVL Hermes were assigned to the fleet, capable to launching over 90 planes, though most of the planes were of older models inferior to the Japanese Zero fighters. In terms of surface fighting ships, the British Eastern Fleet boasted five WW1-era battleships, two heavy cruisers, five light cruisers, 16 destroyers, seven submarines, and various support crafts.

Having effectively put an end to Allied naval strength in the South Pacific with the annihilation of the ABDA forces around Java, Kido Butai, the Japanese carrier striking force, made a plan to sail westward into the Indian Ocean. By attacking the main British fleet bases at Colombo and Trincomalee at Ceylon (the Japanese were not aware of a third major British navy base, Addus Atoll, 600 miles southwest of Ceylon in the Maldive Islands), the westward flank of the Japanese defensive perimeter would be secure. Without a British naval force east of India would mean unmolested operations in Burma.

Of course, Britain and Japan were not the only two nations who understood the strategic important of the Indian Ocean. As Michael Wilson noted,

The stress upon the Indian Ocean was not misplaced. To the British, in addition to strategic importance regarding Burma, this ocean also contained sea routes where Middle Eastern oil and Ceylon's rubber made their ways to Allied industrial facilities for war purposes. Ultimately, the American advances across the southern Pacific islands would force the Japanese to pay less attention in this area, therefore allowing the British to continue to transport raw materials of utmost importance relatively unmolested.

In early 1942, Ultra intelligence was able to intercept Japanese communications, and it forewarned Somerville that Admiral Kondo had ordered an attack into the Indian Ocean. Admiral Somerville organized his fleet, and sailed them to Addu Atoll, avoiding a direct confrontation as he was ordered to do.

The Japanese fleet departed from Celebes on 26 Mar 1942; the force centered around the carriers Akagi, Ryujo, Hiryu, Soryu, Shokaku, and Zuikaku (Kaga had returned to Japan for engine work on 2 Mar). On 31 Mar, the task force consisted of the carrier Ryujo and six cruisers under the command of Admiral Ozawa began attacking practically everything that moved in the Bay of Bengal; this first battle sunk 23 British ships. On the morning of 5 Apr, Admiral Nagumo hit Colombo with 91 bombers and 36 fighters. 42 RAF fighters scrambled to protect the ports, among them 19 would be lost, only downing seven Japanese counterparts. At the conclusion of this raid at Colombo, Britain would lose the destroyer Tenedos and an armed merchant cruiser Hector, in addition to causing some relatively minor damage to shore facilities. On the return trip, a group by 50 Japanese planes caught two British heavy cruisers offshore, the Dorsetshire and Cornwall, and quickly sank them, killing 424 British sailors in an episode that was eerily similar to the misfortunes of the British Royal Navy off Kuantan only months ago. On 9 Apr, Nagumo launched an attack at Trincomalee, on the eastern side of the Ceylon island. RAF put up 22 fighters and nine Blenheim bombers, but again was overwhelmed by the Japanese attacking planes. Japan was once again successful in the raid, downing 5 Blenheims, sinking one merchantman, and caused some damage to the port facilities. Once again, on the return trip the Japanese fighters found some of the fleeing British ships, and this time the returning planes sank the British light carrier Hermes along with all her aircraft (Hermes was hit 40 times), a destroyer (Australian ship HMAS Vampire), a corvette (Hollyhock), and two tankers. The remaining RAF fighters in Ceylon received reports of the attack, but was able to assist due to the long range. The nearby hospital ship Vita later picked up 590 survivors from this battle, but casualty rates were still high; Hermes alone lost 307 men. Nagumo turned for home upon the conclusion of this raid, having loss only 18 aircraft for the entire raid.

While Nagumo wreaked havoc in British ports, Ozawa continued to disrupt merchant shipping. In a "rare display of aggressive war on commerce by Japanese submarines", as described by historian Dan van der Vat, they sank 32,400 tons worth of British transports carrying supplies for British land troops. Meanwhile, Ozawa's surface ships and planes destroyed an additional 112,300 tons worth of British merchant shipping.

During this entire episode, the bulk of the British Eastern Fleet had either kept out of the way, or had tried rather feebly to track and attack Kido Butai. The orders given by Somerville that resulted in the non-confrontation mostly came from up above him, though given that the British fast striking force had only two full-sized carriers (Indomitable and Formidable) and a single fast battleship (Warspite) to Japan's five and four, respectively, it is probably just as well that they never made contact. All other factors being equal, their only likely fate would have been to be whomped on. The entire British Eastern Fleet, after this episode, retreated all the way to East Africa in the case that this raid was the precursor to a large-scale naval assault into the rest of the Indian Ocean.

It is worth mentioning that, by this time, Nagumo had built up an impressive resume. He had sailed from Kurile Islands to Pearl Harbor, then returned to the western portions of the South Pacific then Indian Ocean, causing similar scales of damage. He had destroyed five battleships, one carrier, two cruisers, seven destroyers, dozens of merchantmen, transports, and various other vessels. He was also responsible for downing hundreds of Allied aircraft from six nations. Destruction brought upon Allied ports also disabled or slowed Allied operations. All the while, he had lost no more than a few dozen pilots (although having 20-20 hindsight today, we understand these elite pilots lost would have significant consequences later in the war). After the raid in the Indian Ocean, Nagumo returned to Japan a national hero.

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