Force H was a British naval formation during the Second World War. It was formed in late-June 1940, to replace French naval power in the western Mediterranean removed by the French armistice with Nazi Germany. The force occupied an odd place within the naval chain of command. Normal British practice was to have naval stations and fleets around the world, whose commanders reported to the First Sea Lord via a flag officer. Force H was based at Gibraltar but there was already a flag officer at the base, Flag Officer Commanding, North Atlantic. The commanding officer of Force H did not report to this Flag Officer but directly to the First Sea Lord, Admiral of the Fleet Sir Dudley Pound.
The attack on Mers-el-Kébir on 3 July 1940, during the Second World War, was a British naval attack on neutral French Navy ships at the naval base at Mers El Kébir, near Oran, on the coast of French Algeria. The attack was the main part of Operation Catapult, a British plan to neutralise or destroy neutral French ships to prevent them from falling into German hands after the Allied defeat in the Battle of France. The British bombardment of the base killed 1,297 French servicemen, sank a battleship and damaged five other ships, for a British loss of five aircraft shot down and two crewmen killed. The attack by air and sea was conducted by the Royal Navy, after France had signed armistices with Germany and Italy, coming into effect on 25 June.
Mers El Kébir is a port on the Mediterranean Sea, near Oran in Oran Province, northwest Algeria. It is famous for the attack on the French fleet in 1940, in the Second World War.
Strasbourg was the second and final member of the Dunkerque class of fast battleships built for the French Navy in the 1930s. She and her sister ship Dunkerque were designed to defeat the German Deutschland class of heavy cruisers that had been laid down beginning in the late 1920s, and as such were equipped with a battery of eight 330 mm (13 in) guns to counter the six 280 mm (11 in) guns of the Deutschlands. Strasbourg was laid down in November 1934, was launched in December 1936, and was commissioned in September 1938 as the international situation in Europe was steadily deteriorating due to Nazi Germany's increasingly aggressive behavior.
Commandant Teste was a large seaplane tender of the French Navy built before World War II. She was designed to be as large as possible without counting against the Washington Treaty limits. During the Spanish Civil War, she protected neutral merchant shipping and played a limited role during World War II as she spent the early part of the war in North African waters or acting as an aviation transport between France and North Africa. She was slightly damaged during the British bombardment of the French Fleet at Mers-el-Kébir in July 1940. Commandant Teste was scuttled at Toulon when the Germans invaded Vichy France in November 1942, but was refloated after the war and considered for conversion to an escort or training carrier. Neither proposal was accepted and she was sold for scrap in 1950.
The Duguay-Trouin-class were the first major French warships built after World War I. They were excellent steamers and proved successful and seaworthy over a quarter century of service. All three achieved 33 knots on trials and could easily maintain 30 knots in service. Twenty-year-old Duguay-Trouin could still maintain 27.7 knots at her post-war displacement of 10,900 tons. They were fast and economical, although with a limited range. The fate of these three ships after the French surrender illustrates the dichotomy within the French armed forces at the time: one ship was interned, then joined the Free French, another twice resisted Allied bombardment and was destroyed, and the third was disarmed at a French colonial port and subsequently sunk.
Colbert was the second of four Suffren class cruisers built for the French Navy. During the interwar period she served in the Mediterranean. In 1935 she underwent a major refit at Lorient before joining the International Patrol off the Spanish south coast during the Spanish Civil War. In 1939 she was in Oran moving to Toulon in January 1940. She partook in the bombardment of Genoa in mid-June. She was in Toulon at the time of the French Armistice. She underwent a refit in 1941 to augment her light anti-aircraft guns then was placed in care and maintenance at Toulon. She was scuttled at Toulon when the Germans attempted to seize the French Fleet at the end of November 1942. She was raised and scrapped post war in 1948.
Forges et Chantiers de la Gironde was a French shipbuilder at Lormont near Bordeaux on the Gironde estuary. The company was previously called Usine de construction navale Chaigneau et Bichon, then Chantiers et Ateliers de la Gironde S.A. Ets Schneider, before becoming Forges et Chantiers de la Gironde. It is today the Construction Navale de Bordeaux (CNB).
The Gourdou-Leseurre GL-812 HY was a 3-seat reconnaissance floatplane, built by Gourdou-Leseurre.
The Gourdou-Leseurre GL-832 HY was a 1930s French light shipboard reconnaissance floatplane designed and built by Gourdou-Leseurre for the French Navy.
Rigault de Genouilly may refer to:
The Bougainville class was a group of colonial avisos, or sloops, built for the French Navy during the 1930s. They were designed to operate in the remote locations of the French Empire.
Mogador was the lead ship of the French Navy's Mogador class of destroyers. Named after the Moroccan town, she was built before the outbreak of World War II. The ship was heavily damaged during the British attack on Mers-el-Kébir on 3 July 1940, but was later repaired and sailed to Toulon. She was scuttled in Toulon Harbor when the Germans tried to seize her, along with the rest of the fleet, on 27 November 1942.
Savorgnan de Brazza was one of eight Bougainville-class avisos built for the French Navy in the 1930s. Completed in 1933, she was assigned to the Far Eastern Naval Division where she cruised amongst the islands of French Polynesia and the coast of French Indochina. The ship returned to France following the beginning of World War II in 1939 and played a minor role in the Dunkirk evacuation in May–June 1940 after the Germans invaded France. Savorgnan de Brazza sailed to Britain to avoid capture later in June.
HMS Pandora was a British Parthian-class submarine commissioned in 1930 and lost in 1942 during the Second World War. This class was the first to be fitted with Mark VIII torpedoes. On 4 July 1940 she torpedoed and sank the French aviso Rigault de Genouilly off the Algerian coast. In an extension of the Lend-Lease program, Pandora, along with three other British and French submarines, was overhauled at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in the United States. She was sunk on 1 April 1942 by Junkers Ju 87 aircraft from Sturzkampfgeschwader 3 at the Valletta dockyard, Malta.
Méduse (NN5) was a French Navy Diane-class submarine commissioned in 1932. During World War II, she operated on the Allied side until 1940, when she became part of the naval forces of Vichy France. She was wrecked in November 1942.
L'Espoir was a French Navy Redoutable-class submarine of the M6 series commissioned in 1934. She participated in World War II, first on the side of the Allies from 1939 to June 1940, then in the navy of Vichy France until she was scuttled at Toulon in November 1942.
Le Glorieux (Glorious) was a French Navy Redoutable-class submarine of the M6 series commissioned in 1934. She participated in World War II, first on the side of the Allies from 1939 to June 1940, then in the navy of Vichy France until November 1942. She then returned to the Allied side, operating as part of the Free French Naval Forces. Along with Archimède, Argo, Casabianca, and Le Centaure, she was one of only five out of the 31 Redoutable-class submarines to survive the war. She remained in French Navy service after World War II, and was decommissioned in 1952.
Diane was a French Navy Diane-class submarine commissioned in 1932, the lead ship of her class. During World War II, she operated on the Allied side until 1940, when she became part of the naval forces of Vichy France. She was scuttled in November 1942.
The Gourdou G.120 Hy was a prototype French shipboard reconnaissance floatplane. A single prototype was completed, flying for the first time in June 1940, but was destroyed later that month to avoid capture by German troops.
France
