Free French Naval Forces

On 24 June 1940, de Gaulle made a separate call specifically to servicemen overseas to join him, and two days later the submarine Narval entered Malta and pledged its allegiance to the FFL.

Other ships were the two obsolete battleships Paris and Courbet, the destroyers Le Triomphant and Léopard, eight torpedo boats, five submarines (Minerve, Junon) and a number of other smaller vessels.

Unwilling to return to occupied France, but likewise reluctant to join de Gaulle, Béarn instead sought harbour in Martinique, her crew showing little inclination to side with the British in their continued fight against the Nazis.

A number of ships were leased from the British to compensate for the lack of warships in the FNFL, among them, the Hunt-class destroyer La Combattante and the Flower-class corvette Aconit.

The ships of the FNFL were deployed off the landing sites : In addition the obsolete battleship Courbet was scuttled off Arromanches to serve as a breakwater for a Mulberry harbour.

[6] Triomphant, under the command of Philippe Auboyneau was transferred to the Pacific theatre of the war, where in February 1942 it took part in the evacuation of European and Chinese civilians and military personnel from Nauru and Ocean Island before an anticipated Japanese invasion.

Triomphant was later stationed along the east coast of Australia, where in early 1943 it was involved in the rescue of the survivors from SS Iron Knight, which was sunk by a torpedo fired by the Japanese submarine I-21.

[citation needed] The FNFL also harboured technical innovators, like Captain Jacques-Yves Cousteau, who invented the modern aqua-lung, and Yves Rocard, who helped perfect radar.

Other losses include the destroyers Léopard and La Combattante; the submarine Narval; the patrol boats Poulmic and Vikings, and the corvettes Mimosa and Alysse.