In a state of confusion, in the ocean, perhaps? (5)

'perhaps?' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I can't tell whether this works.

'in a state of confusion in the ocean' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'a' is within the answer.
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is found within the answer.
'ocean' could be 'sea' (synonyms) and 'sea' is located in the answer.
No letters remain.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?