British Attack French Fleet

On July 3, 1940 the British attacked units of the French navy at Oran and Mers-el-Kebir in what was then French Algeria. Within the week they would also launch a crippling carrier based air strike against a French battleship in Dakar, West Africa and pressure French ships based in Alexandria, Egypt to “demilitarize” effectively disarming themselves to the point where the British would notice and be able easily to stop them if they tried to leave.

The attack on Mers-el-Kebir was one of the most controversial and bitter episodes of the war. Over 1,200 French sailors were killed and although the battle cruiser Strasbourg escaped to Toulon several other French capital ships were sunk or disabled along with other lighter ships and several submarines. The Vichy French bombed Gibraltar in retaliation (doing very little damage) and actually considered declaring war on Britain but decided France had had enough war for now. Thus the British made a major step forward to seeing that no significant elements of the French navy would fall into German or German allied hands. They also added another chapter to their history of successful ruthless and daring naval accomplishments.