WW2: What if Vichy declares war on Britain after attack on Mers-el-Kébir?

[thaddeus]

I'm not going to copy all of the relevant pages, but I'm posting this because of the penultimate sentence.
In another section Cunningham said that had the French ships been sunk in a battle with this fleet or scuttled, Alexandria harbour would have been fouled by the wrecks. They would probably fail in the attempt, but the French could scuttle their ships in the harbour entrance to stop the British ships getting to sea. In the unlikely event that they succeeded the British ships would be trapped in the harbour while the wrecks were removed.

thanks for the links!

the French battleship Strasbourg was pursued and might well have been sunk in the open Med? that might be enough of a POD to provoke a breakout attempt at Alexandria.

most of the speculation about what happens next? has focused on the handful of capital ships, after the attack on Dakar, all the French battleships would be unfinished, damaged, or sunk.

that was my rationale for speculating French war efforts would mirror the German efforts, submarines and air force. as earlier suggested Gibraltar comes under sustained bombing, rather than symbolic raids.

 

[NOMISYRRUC]

but cannot find what RN ships were there, during last quarter of the year (1940) or reference to what disarming of the French ships was done?

It's going to happen in the week after the attack on Mers-el-Kébir, i.e. between 4th and 10th July 1940, if it's going to happen at all.

My latest guess of the strength of the British Mediterranean Fleet in the first two weeks of July 1940 is:

1 aircraft carrier (Eagle)
4 battleships (Malaya, Ramillies, Royal Sovereign, Warspite) which formed the First Battle Squadron
5 new cruisers (Gloucester, Liverpool, Orion, Neptune, Sydney) which formed the Seventh Cruiser Squadron
2 old cruisers (Capetown and Caledon) which formed the Third Cruiser Squadron
About 20 destroyers
​

Force X had the following ships:

1 battleship (Lorraine)
3 heavy cruisers (Duquense, Suffren, Tourville)
1 light cruiser (Duguay Trouin)
3 destroyers of the 1500 tonne type (Basque, Forbin, Le Fortuné)
​