French Warships

Discussion in 'The War at Sea' started by beastman, Feb 28, 2005.

  1. beastman

    beastman Junior Member

    Hey does anyone know which country sunk the most French warships in WW2: England, Italy or Germany?
    Thanks in advance . . . (i'm new here btw hope this is the right place for this)
     
  2. angie999

    angie999 Very Senior Member

    Without doing a fair bit of research, I would think it is a choice between the Brits at Mers el Kabir in 1940 and the French themselves when they scuttled their fleet at Toulon in 1942 when the Germans occupied the Vichy zone after Operation Torch.

    Plus, of course, a small number of Free French ships were lost in action against the Germans.
     
  3. Kiwiwriter

    Kiwiwriter Very Senior Member

    I would have to agree...the leading cause of French naval casualties was likely the French mass scuttling at Toulon, which was an honorable end for a proud fleet. The French Navy had a tragic war.
     
  4. beastman

    beastman Junior Member

    Thanks people for your help . . . I also thought it was the French, but didn't know how many the Germans sunk (free French ships). I heard about Mers el Kabir and Dakar also but they were only a few ships (but big ones) I think?
     
  5. Kiwiwriter

    Kiwiwriter Very Senior Member

    Originally posted by beastman@Mar 1 2005, 12:09 PM
    Thanks people for your help . . . I also thought it was the French, but didn't know how many the Germans sunk (free French ships). I heard about Mers el Kabir and Dakar also but they were only a few ships (but big ones) I think?
    [post=31828]Quoted post[/post]
    The Germans didn't punch out too many Free French ships. Most of the French Navy sat out the first half of the war. The Free French submarine Surcouf and her 8-inch guns were sunk while en route to the Pacific in a collision. Too bad -- her guns and working torpedoes would have put a serious hole in the Japanese merchant marine. The big ships get what press there was about Mers-el-Kebir, but the smaller ships took some hits, too. The battleships Bretagne and Provence were wrecked at Mers-el-Kebir, and the tin can Mogador had her stern blown off. More French ships were blasted apart at Casablanca in 1942, when the Americans hurled Operation Torch at the Moroccan seaport. Samuel Eliot Morison gives a fine account of this desperate battle in "Operations in North African Waters" volume of his history of the US Navy in WW2. The major destruction to the French fleet took place at Toulon on November 27, 1942. The other ships, at Alexandria and Dakar, sitting out the first half of the war, raised the Gaulliste flag after Torch, and served with distinction and honor at Normandy, Southern France, and in the Pacific.
     

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