Shortly before dawn the British seize the French warships sheltering in Plymouth, Falmouth, Portsmouth and Sheerness. Operation CATAPULT has begun.

In Plymouth are a 22,000-ton battleship, the Paris, the light cruiser Triomphant, three destroyers including the Mistral, four sloops, the giant submarine Surcouf and three smaller submarines, all under the command of Adm Cayol.

In Portsmouth are the battleship Courbet, the light cruiser Léopard, the destroyers Chevreuil, Savorgnan de Brazza and Pollux, two torpedo-boats, three sloops, two submarines (Orion and Ondine, both undergoing repairs), twelve submarine chasers and a number of patrol boats, all under the command of Adm Gaudin de Villaine.

In Falmouth there are three sloops and two submarines.

In Sheerness there are two sloops and a number of harbor craft (tugs, dredgers, lighters, etc.).

At 3:45am detachments of armed British soldiers sneak aboard in carpet-slippers, overcome the sentries, club those who thy to defend themselves and surprise the sleeping officers and men. Their arrival is so unexpected that resistance is practically impossible. Here and there, however, serious incidents occur.

The French commanders are handed copies of a note signed by Sir Dunbar Nasmith, C-in-C Western Approaches. It states that, since Britain is still at war with Germany and Italy, it is essential that French naval units in British harbors should not fall into enemy hands; consequently the British government has decided, with the deepest regret, that all such ships must be detained.

Later, groups of French sailors escorted by Royal Marines return to the ships to pack their belongings. They have been told to help themselves to whatever they want, especially food and drink, and they know it will be a long time before they drink wine again. 'Within a few hours,' writes Muselier, 'our fine crews had become a disorderly, half-drunk rabble.'

In Alexandria, Force X comprises the battleship Lorraine, three 10,000-ton cruisers (the Suffren, the Tourville and the Duquesne, the latter flying Adm Godfroy's flag), the 8,000-ton cruiser Duguey-Trouin, three destroyers (the Fortuné, the Basque and the Forbin) and the 1,500-ton submarine Protée. They are anchored in the close harbor and surrounded by the Warspite, flying Adm Cunningham's flag, the Malaya, the Barham, the Ramilles, the Royal Sovereign, the aircraft-carrier Eagle and a flotilla of destroyers.

At 9am Adm Godfroy goes aboard the Warspite with his Chief of Staff, Post-Captain Tisserand.

Adm Cunningham meets them at the head of the gangway and takes them down to the cabin. There, tense-featured, he hands a typewritten document to Adm Godfroy. Its contents can be summarized as follows:

• 1. Either agree to place the ships of Force X, manned by volunteers, at the disposal of the British;
• 2. Or agree to their being disarmed under British supervision - in other words, under constraint;
• 3. Or sink them.

Having taken stock of these proposals, Adm Godfroy returns to the Duquesne to word his reply. It is ready at 11:30am:

...I should be inclined to accept the second [proposal] if I could recommend it to my superiors, who alone can give me authority to disarm any ships in a foreign port, under constraint from a foreign power.

If I am not allowed to discuss it with them I find myself compelled to choose the third solution, regrettable as it may be for the future, for in these conditions it alone is reconcilable with our sense of honor.

Suddenly Adm Godfory is handed signals from the fleet at Mers-el-Kebir. Something tragic seems to have happened.

He immediately goes aboard the Warspite to express his indignation to Adm Cunningham and to inform him that he is countermanding all the conciliatory arrangements that he had made earlier in the afternoon. He hears English officers aboard the British flagship say of the action at Mers-el-Kebir: 'It is simply madness.'

In Mers-el-Kebir lies the French Atlantic fleet, the cream of the French navy: the battleships Dunkerque, Strasbourg, Provence and Bretagne, and the cruisers Volta, Magador, Terrible, Lyns, Tigre and Kersaint. There are also a number of ships under Adm Jarry, naval commander at Oran, including the aircraft-carrier Commandant Teste, several destroyers and four submarines. On board all these vessels everything is proceeding as usual. Parties are preparing to go ashore, either for leave or for discharge - for demobilization had started the day before. The ships are no longer on war footing.

Pierre Varillon writes:

When, at about 7am, the look-outs reported that a British destroyer, the Foxhound, had just anchored about a mile from the channel, and when, a little later on, three British capital ships (the 42,000-ton battle-cruiser Hood, flying Adm Somerville's flag, the Resolution and the Valiant, escorted by two cruisers and a number of destroyers) and shortly afterwards the Ark Royal. Britain's most modern aircraft-carrier, appeared on the horizon, most of our men supposed that the British squadron was on its way to engage Italian units and that the first round in the fight for domination of the Mediterranean was about to begin.

When they notice launches plying back and forth between the Foxhound and the Dunkerque, however, they begin to realize that something else might be happening.

Adm Gensoul receives a message from Adm Somerville in which the latter states that he is sending Capt Holland to confer with him. The Royal Navy, he adds, hopes that its proposals will allow the French navy to align itself with the British.

Adm Gensoul sends Lt Dufay to inquire into Adm Somerville's proposals. About a quarter of an hour later Lt Dufay returns with a sealed envelope. Adm Gensoul tears it open and is amazed to find himself confronted with a veritable ultimatum:

...His Majesty's Government have instructed me to demand that the French fleet now at Mers-el-Kebir and Oran shall act in accordance with one of the following alternatives:

• (a) Sail with us and continue to fight for victory against the Germans and Italians.
• (b) Sail with reduced crews under our control to a British port...
• (c) Alternatively, if you feel bound to stipulate that your ships should not be used against the Germans or Italians unless these break the armistice, then sail them with us with reduced crews to some French port in the West Indies - Martinique, for instance - where they can be demilitarized to our satisfaction or be perhaps entrusted to the United States and remain safe until the end of the war...

Adm Gensoul is immediately convinced that he will be unable to agree to any of these alternatives. He therefore orders: 'Action stations!' It is going to take some time, however, for his ships to get up steam and prepare to sail.

He then sends the following telegram to the French Admiralty:

2607 - 8:45am

Flagship Dunkerque to French Admiralty

British forces comprising 3 battleships, 1 aircraft-carrier, cruisers and destroyers off Oran. - Ultimatum sent: sink your ships within six hours or we shall force you to. - Reply: French ships will meet force with force.

At 10:50am Adm Somerville sends a further message, regretfully informing Adm Gensoul that he will not be allowed to sail unless the British conditions are accepted and adding that, in Alexandria, Adm Godfroy is demilitarizing his ships with reduced crews.

Somerville himself is hesitant to use force. Conscious that Adm Gensoul will not go back on his decision, he telegraphs to London in an attempt to get his orders changed.

In Whitehall Mr Alexander, Sir Dudley Pound, Sir Francis Little and others sit tense-faced at the Admiralty. Their silence is amply impressive of their state of mind: they would much prefer to leave things as they stand rather than carry through Operation CATAPULT to its bitter conclusion.

Churchill 'sat all the afternoon in the Cabinet Room in frequent contact with my principal colleagues and the First Lord and First Sea Lord'.

Adm Darlan has followed the government to Vichy. The only senior naval officer left in Nérac is Adm le Luc, Chief of General Staff. He telephones Adm Négadelle and asks him to inform Adm Darlan of the news from Mers-el-Kebir with all possible haste.

An hour later Adm Négadelle rings back to say that Adm Darlan is nowhere to be found. Thus Adm Le Luc has to take the necessary decisions himself.

He immediately telegraphs to the French squadrons in Toulon and Algiers, instructing them to prepare for battle and hasten to Oran, where they are to act on orders from Adm Gensoul. Thereafter Adm Gensoul's one aim is to gain time for his reinforcements to arrive.

At 1:30pm he receives a further message from the Hood: if he accepts the British proposals he is to hoist a square flag from the main mast; otherwise Force H will open fire at 2pm.

At 1:45pm Adm Gensoul sends this reply:

I have no intention of sailing. I have telegraphed to my government and am awaiting their answer. Do not take an irrevocable step.

At 2:12pm Adm Somerville announces that he is sending his representative, and at 3pm Capt Holland crosses the gangway of the Dunkerque.

Adm Gensoul shows him the telegram that Adm Darlan had sent to all commanders of squadrons, on June 24th, stipulating that if an armistice commission were to demand the withdrawal of French crews from demobilized ships, such vessels would either sail to the United States or be scuttled.

Holland instantly realizes the importance of this document. If the British had known of it, he says, everything might have been different.

Adm Gensoul then offers to disarm his squadron in the spot at Mers-el-Kebir, and gives his word of honor to sail it to the United States or Martinique at the first sign of a threat from the Germans or Italians. Snatching at any opportunity of averting a clash, Holland signals this news to Adm Somerville, adding: 'This is not quite our propositions. Can get no nearer.'

Barely had this message been sent that Adm Gensoul receives a telegram from the French Admiralty.

'Here is tangible and positive proof,' he says slowly, 'that we have not lost touch with Adm Darlan.'

He then readsout the telegram:

Inform British intermediary that Adm of the Fleet has orders all French forces in the Mediterranean to rally to you immediately...

Holland bow his head, realizing that the chips are down. In any case, a further signal comes from Adm Somerville immediately afterwards. It states that unless one or other of the British proposals were accepted by 5:30pm, British Summer Time, he would have to sink the French ships.

'Action stations' ordered Adm Gensoul.

The signal, hoisted from the Dunkerque, is instantly taken up by the ships' buglers.

It would be for the light cruisers to leave harbor first, followed in turn by the Dunkerque, the Strasbourg, the Bretagne and the Provence. but they will not stir until the British fire the first salvo. In this way, they will not provide Adm Somerville with an excuse.

They did not have to wait long. At 4:56pm comes a deafening roar: the Royal navy has opened fire. Four shells land alongside the jetty, sending jets of water three hundred feet into the air.

The French light cruisers have more than half a mile to cover before they reach the boom. They move off in line ahead, maneuvering to avoid the shell-bursts. Every minute 24 15-in shells land in the narrow channel that they have to navigate. No armor-plating can stand up to them at such short range. Then the battleships got under way. They are steered with commendable coolness, but several of them are hit almost as soon as they leave the quays. The stern of the Bretagne is ablaze. A further salvo tears into her hull, below the water-line. Soon the unfortunate ship is a mass of flames and starts to sink from the stern. Suddenly there is a tremendous flash that seems to rend the sky. The Bretagne keels over, carrying a crew of a thousand and some thirty officers to their deaths.

The Dunkerque, too, has been hit in the first minute. One shell catches her aft, on the port side, without causing major damage or affecting her steerage. Then 3 more 15-in shells hit her. The first hits one of her turrets, knocking out two guns and killing their crews. The second penetrates the side-engines and puts one of the generators out of action. This is serious. The third explodes in a boiler-room, causing a fire in the No. 2 stokehold and destroys the starboard cable subway, thus totally depriving the ship of electricity. She is paralyzed.

At 5pm the Provence, bearing Adm Bouxin's insignia, slides gently away from the quay, taking care to impede the Dunkerque. Two of her turrets are knocked out in swift succession. A severe fire breaks out in the stern and a gaping hole is reported below the water-line. The temperature in the bunkers rises so rapidly that they have to be flooded to avoid disaster. The stern is slowly sinking. There is only one way out: to run her gently aground.

Meanwhile the light cruisers are nearing the harbor channel. Suddenly, at about 5:30pm the Mogador vanishes in the midst of an enormous explosion. Her stern has been torn away by a 15-in shell setting off her supply of depth-charges. A quarter of the ship simply disappears.

The Terrible and the Volta open fire on two British destroyers, which make off. At about the same time the Rigault de Genouilly, which had left Oran harbor to come the aid of the main fleet, is caught in the fire of two British cruisers. Firing at maximum range with her three 138mm guns, the Rigault nameuvers as much as she can to escape damage. Two 6-in shells hit her, however, one in the fore-funnel, the other slightly astern. Aboard, there follows moments of anxious waiting, for there is a chance that the third salvo might obliterate her. Fortunately it lands in the sea. Then, abruptly, the firing ceases presumably recalled by their admiral, the British cruisers turn about.

At this point, however, cries of joy ring out on every bridge: 'The Strasbourg! Here comes the Strasbourg!' And, indeed, the great battle-cruiser is speeding majestically out into the open sea.

At the very first salvo she had cut her moorings and started her engines. By the time the third salvo landed - the salvo that finished her neighbor, the Bretagne - she is starting to turn. Streaming slowly up the line, she passes alongside the Bretagne, now a sheet of flames. She is still abreast of her when she capsizes. Amid the terrifying din of the alternating discharges and detonations, the whistling shells and the roar of aircraft circling in the sky, mindless of the jets of water shooting up all around her, she continues on her way, miraculously unscathed. At 5:09pm she reaches the opening in the boom. All eyes are upon her. Would she get through the channel? Would she manage to miss the mines? Her stern ploughing the water, she reaches the danger zone. Breaths are held. She is going to make it... she had made it! She, at least, is going to be able to fight back and avenge the dead, the poor dead killed like animals caught in a trap. The moment she is through the boom she accelerates to 28 knots, binoculars and range-finders train toward the enamy, ready to open fire on the British squadron as soon as she can see it.

But she never saw it. For 8 miles westwards a huge black wall rises from the sea. As soon as Dunkerque and the Provence had commenced firing, the British ships had covered themselves with a smokescreen.

Alerted by the Fleet Air Arm, the British squadron sets off in pursuit of the Strasbourg. At 6.05pm her captain learns from one of the French pilots that the British are steering a parallel course, somewhere over the west. Fifty minutes later a further message reports that they are still there - but now the Hood is alone, apart from a few smaller ships. The Valiant and the Resolution are no longer of an age to take part in such a chase. Finally, at 7:25pm, the Hood herself gives up, not caring to wander alone and in daylight, in a part of the Mediterranean in which three French battle squadrons are converging.

At 6:30pm Adm Gensoul wires Adm Somerville: 'Request you cease fire.'

At 6:35pm The Commander of Force H replies that he would open fire again if he finds that the French ships are not sunk.

Adm Gensoul decides to withdraw the crews of the Dunkerque and the Provence for the night so as to avoid further slaughter. If nothing happens in the meantime, they can return next day and carry out the most urgent repairs.