It was formed on 9 December at Cam Ranh Bay, near Saigon, under the command of Capitaine de Vaisseau Bérenger.

The Groupe Occasionnel with Lamotte-Picquet at its head, met a Thai squadron of two torpedo boats and the coastal defence ship HTMS Thonburi in the Battle of Koh Chang on 14 January 1941.

The Thai squadron was defeated, with both torpedo boats sunk and the coastal defence ship run aground.

There had been several minor contesting claims against the official report of no damage, including a reference book Janes Fighting Ships (1955 edition).

She was sunk in Đồng Nai River, on 12 January 1945, by U.S carrier based aircraft from Task Force 38 during the South China Sea raid.