Warren Tute
This is an account of the attack by the Royal Navy on the French Fleet as it lay at its moorings in the harbour of Mers el Kebir, on 3 July 1940. An action that to the French was murderous aggression; to the sailors who carried it out incomprehensible folly and to the British government a grim but unavoidable necessity.
Force H under Vice Admiral Sir James Somerville consisted Hood, Resolution, Valiant, Ark Royal, Arethusa, Enterprise, Faulknor, Fearless, Foresight, Forester, Foxhound, Active, Keppel, Vidette, Vortigern, Wrestler and Fleet Air Arm Squadrons 800 & 803 (SKUA), 810, 818, 820 (Swordfish). French ships sunk - Bretagne; French ships damaged Commandant Teste, Dunkerque, Mogador, Provence.
The Prime Minister's signal to Somerville on 2 July read "You are charged with one of the most disagreeable and difficult tasks that a British Admiral has ever been faced with but we have complete confidence in you and rely on you to carry it out relentlessly"
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| Author(s) | Warren Tute |
