Seizure of the French ships in Britain

3 July 1940, Plymouth and Portsmouth, England

British success; the French ships seized

When France signed the armistice, dozens of French warships and smaller craft were in British ports, most of them having escaped from Brittany and Normandy as the Germans arrived. Early on 3 July 1940, the same day as the attack at Mers-el-Kébir, British boarding parties went aboard them all without warning at Plymouth and Portsmouth. Nearly everywhere the surprised crews gave in, but aboard the giant submarine Surcouf at Plymouth there was a fight in which two British officers and a seaman and one French sailor were killed. The old battleships Paris and Courbet, the destroyers Le Triomphant and Léopard, Surcouf and many smaller ships were taken. Most of their men chose to be sent home to France; a few thousand joined de Gaulle, and many of the ships were later manned by the Free French.