The Indian Ocean raid was a sortie of the Imperial Japanese Navy from 31 March to 10 April 1942. Japanese aircraft carriers struck Allied shipping, naval bases and airfields around British Ceylon but
British heavy cruisers HMS Dorsetshire and Cornwall under Japanese air attack and severely damaged on 5 April 1942.
The Southern Force heading for the Indian Ocean on 30 March. Left to right, Akagi, Sōryū, Hiryū, Hiei, Kirishima, Haruna and Kongō, photographed from Zuikaku