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I was watched a documentary called Churchill's Darkest Decision last night which focused on the British sinking of the French Fleet at the port of Mers-el-Kebir in 1940.
To the unacquainted Churchill, fearful that important elements of the the French Fleet would fall into German hands, issued the following ultimatum to the French: sail to Britain, sail to the USA, or scuttle your ships in the next six hours. The French refused to comply and were sunk.
Two things:
1) The documentary maintained that Britain would be in peril of invasion if it did not act since the French possessed the second biggest fleet in the Europe. I immediately thought of you lot on this site and wanted to get your insights into the feasibility of the 'dreaded marine mammal whose name we shall not speakth' being more successful with the french fleet in tow.
2) It also strongly suggested that it took such a desperate act of self preservation to convince FDR that the British were serious about continuing the war and therefore worthy of the 50 aging US destroyers it had requested. This summation of a likely British capitulation was supposedly supported by a secret meeting with the Canadian PM and FDR who proposed laying out defensive plans across North America against the Nazis in the high likelihood that the Brit were about to surrender. If I remember correctly, it was suggested by FDR that the Royal Fleet should head for Canada when Britain was taken over.
I am not trying to be controversial about this widely lambasted topic but it did interest me to see what you all thought.