The French armed merchant cruiser Charles Plumier, which had been on patrol south of the Cape Verde Islands reached Dakar at 1015/18. In the morning of the 18th the French troopship Banfora reached Freetown, from Port Bouet, Ivory Coast with 1000 troops on board, and sailed for Dakar without delay. She left Gibraltar on the 19th with an arrival date of the 23rd. Russell, RN) to leave Gibraltar and proceed to Dakar and join the South Atlantic Station. That afternoon the Admiralty ordered HMS Delhi (Capt.
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Sutcliff, RN), which were on passage to Freetown from the Western Approaches, to proceed to Dakar at full speed in order to strengthen the French morale. de Meric, RN) and HMS Mooltan (Capt.(Retd.) G.E. At 0245/18 Vice-Admiral Lyon passed this information to the Admiralty, cancelled his orders to HMS Hermes to proceed to Freetown and directed her with the armed merchant cruisers HMS Carnarvon Castle (Capt. On the 18th the Commander-in-Chief was also informed by Commander Jermyn Rushbrooke, RN, the British Naval Liaison Officer at Dakar that the Commander-in-Chief of the French Navy, Admiral Darlan had ordered Admiral Plancon at Dakar to continue fighting and also that the shore batteries and AA personnel there had declared for the British. The British transport City of Paris with 600 French troops on board from Cotonou was ordered to put into Takoradi. At the same time he recalled the British SS Accra which had sailed from Freetown for Dakar at 1730 hours (zone +1) with 850 French troops on board. Onslow, DSC, MVO, RN) then on her way to Dakar after a patrol off the Canary Islands to proceed to Freetown instead at her best speed. On receipt of these orders Vice-Admiral George D’Oyly Lyon, Commander-in-Chief South Atlantic, ordered the aircraft carrier HMS Hermes (Capt R.F.J. At 1516 (B.S.T.) hours that day the Admiralty issued orders that British ships were not to proceed to French ports. It was on the 17th of June 1940, when the newly-formed Pétain Cabinet asked the Germans to consider ‘honourable’ peace terms in order to stop the fighting in France. Nazaire and more importantly as she was almost complete, the Richelieu, at Brest.Įvents during the Franco-German negotiations 17-25 June 1940 and politics. Elsewhere the most important units were the two new battleships completing, the Jean Bart at St. There drastic steps were taken to implement this policy. The bulk of the French fleet was at this time based in the Mediterranean. Government to prevent, at all costs, the French warships based on British and French harbours overseas from falling into the hands of Germany. The question of control of the French fleet had thus become, almost overnight, one of vital importance, for if it passed into the hands of the enemy the whole balance of sea power would be most seriously disturbed. On 16 June 1940, less then six weeks after the invasion of France and the low countries had started on May 10th, all military resitance in France came to an end. Notable events involving Mooltan include: Please use this if you spot mistakes or want to improve this ships page. You can help improve our commands sectionĬlick here to Submit events/comments/updates for this vessel. Please note that we're still working on this section.Ĭapt.