1940 07 03 0100 Surface Action Battle Of Mers El Kebir, Algeria

ref:Flix000001 2008 48 002

Related Types	Units Involved \| Persons Involved
Related Pages	Standard View \| Order Of Battle \| Places Involved \| Full Cast \| Activities Involved \| Major Subordinates
Engagement	1940 07 03 0100 Surface Action Battle Of Mers El Kebir, Algeria

Start YMDHM	01:00
Activity Type	Engagement
Conducted By Country	France \| Great Britain
Contained In Theatre Of War	Mediterranean Theatre
Engagement Type	Surface Action
Activity Class	Major
Completeness	Order Of Battle Complete \| Units Entered

	Alias	Details
	Operation Catapult	Email Contribution: My grand father Louis Collinet was not the Captain of the Dunkerque in battle of Mers el Kebir (1940 07 03), but Captain of the Strasbourg. The Strasbourg was the only ship, which escaped to Toulon harbor. The grand Mother of Louis Collinet was english and he had british education. When the English naval forces came on the morning of 1940 07 03, he discretly prepared the machine of the ship and gave the order to cut the main anchor chains of Strasbourg and to fix small cable to prepare the escape. When the ship gone away my grand father refused to make fire on the Hood besause he considered that English navy was still 'allies' ! Email Contribution: From: Jean Marie Piquet Subject: French cruiser Strasbourg in the battle of Mers-El Kebir The story told by the grandson of the Strasbourg's commandant was reported to me differently by the then officer in charge of Gun-control of the battleship that day, while she was cruising at full speed towards Toulon, hunted by a force of destroyers and the HOOD.: This officer reported to the commandant that due to sunset, the British ships would be in unfavourable conditions to signt the ship and that an opportunity existed to steer 90 degrees unseen and hit the HOOD by the flank, over the heads of the destroyers. Answer from the commandant was "There has been enough casualties for today!" Years later, after retirements, they both met for a dinner in my father's home and he confessed that he was one of the few French officers to know that British battleships were equipped with the first generation of radars which allowed them to track enemy units even in the dark. He thus could not explain his decision to forge ahead instead of taking a brave but foolish stand.

Places
1) Location Place	2) 1: Included In Place	3) 2: Depicted In Image
Mers El Kebir, Algeria	Algeria

Documents
Covered By Document
Carrier Operations In World War Two Vol 1 Royal Navy	N
Chronology Of The War At Sea 1939-1945	N
The French Navy In World War Two	N
The Naval War In The Mediterranean 1940-1943	N

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